>>1685958>The average pilot candidateHaven't met any. I talk to the subset who flew fighters, and liked it enough to continue flying. They tend to do well in contests, and besides being competitive, they're also fun people with a good sense of humor.
>Meanwhile my tax dollars pay for his trainingI can wait to make fun of the USAFA students until we meet at the same contests. I haven't seen them fly in person yet. But yeah, you're paying for their shiny airplanes.
>>1685981>The only thing they need a pilot for is being end-responsible and the fact legalities require it.If airline pilots were all quality people, then there would be no fear of getting replaced, because a computer cannot be a positive role model or inspire the youth. The fact is, the professional training pipeline creates pilots who are sort of scummy and mediocre, so you have to sell yourselves merely as a thing that safely manipulates the controls.
>>1686046>Hey look at me, I’m a pilot, i fly airplanes, WOWYes, if someone asks me my hobbies I'll usually mention birdwatching or extreme sports. When I started flying full-scale, the people I talked to were only interested in Rubiks cubes and playing MapleStory, so...
I have photos on my social media now, but I have a group of smart friends that I met from other things, and it made no sense to keep it a secret once I started getting recognition. But in general it's more fun to talk about other people's hobbies. Talking about flying is synonymous with the industry, and the people involved in most flight training outfits are just really goddamn stupid. It's like the difference between a research journal and a McGraw-Hill textbook: as soon as the goal to train a large group of people to minimum standards, everything becomes an exercise in frustration.
