Ottopilot

Your not a real pilot yet, your just in the trainer to fly real planes.

(Just kidding, I have 4800 hrs in the ERJ, but I have heard that before)

Ottopilot

People couldn't believe I had a private certificate in high school. I couldn't get anyone to go up with me except my best friend. My "Mommy" had to drive me to the airport on my 16th birthday so I could solo. I didn't have my driver's license or permit yet; I was too busy flying.

People don't understand co-pilot means the other pilot. There are two pilots and they are co-pilots, co-piloting an aircraft. The Captain and First Officer are "co-pilots". Don't even try to explain first and second in command to people.

I had a lady get off the ERJ one day because it was "too small". She told me she would drive the distance. I asked her if her car was bigger than my little plane. She got mad.

I had a guy on one flight (ATR-42) that demanded I return to the gate because their was a "crack in the plane". It ended up being a stress fracture in the surface of the paint on the fiberglass flap hinge fairing. No, I didn't return. I tried to explain the whole fairing could be missing.

Now that I'm a FO again (757), more people call me CA than when I was a CA on the RJ. People don't know the whole three and four stripe thingy!? I look old and competent, so I'll take them mistaking me for the CA as a compliment.

I've had countless people commnet on the size of my plane: ERJ, 737, and even the 757. Some people think 747's should do every flight in the world.

Don't worry about what the public says or thinks, they are ignorant to aviation. Don't be offended, just laugh and do your job.

jdr7225

I think most people just equate a 747 to be any airliner thats not a "puddle jumper" whether it be an A320 or a B777.

Puppyz

My mom is the same way lol. She doesn't want to cross the atlantic in anything but a 747. The funniest thing she ever told me, "I dont want to fly Delta because their planes are very loud."

Shaner77

"How old are you?? You don't quite look old enough to be "the pilot"."

Well ma'am, I'm 29. Never actually flown before, but today the company's gonna give me a shot at it. Hope you enjoy the flight.

Freightpuppy

I had people at my second job ask me "Have you thought about applying at United?" This was about 2 years ago. Ummmmmm, let me think about that one.
I have gotten the "don't you want to fly passengers?" question a lot. Ummmmmm, NO!

GauleyPilot

Quote from a person I know concerning flying on regional airplanes:

"I hate flying in those little airplanes because you have to walk outside to get to them, and that is so cheezy and cheap. A real airplane is one where that thing hooks on the side for you to walk in. Anything else is low class, just cheezy."

I tried to explain that the some of the richest people in the world "walked outside" to get into their Gulfstream, and that was as far removed from "cheap" as you could get. I just got back a blank look, as if to say that rich people only ride in the "hump" of a 747.

Everone else here has already said the all the classic ones--do you want to be a real pilot, do you ever go other places, etc.

flappy

Two years ago you had a hard time landing an A-320. Maybe that's the reason why they sarcastically asked you if you thought about applying at United...

groovinaviator

From what I've noticed the general public thinks every airliner is a 747, or 727 and every private jet is a Lear.

A guy I know went to Skyway when he was just 19 years old. He had an old lady ask him if he was old enough to fly an airplane (he does look really young), his response was... "It's okay mam, I have a note from my mother."

flightlevel270

They think every small plane is a Cessna, too. Heard on my local NBC station that a "small Cessna airplane made a crash landing" on some interstate. It was definitely a Piper Cherokee. I bet Cessna gets tired of every crash being blamed on them! You'd think the news media would check their facts before running a story