Ask the pilot how hard it is to fly a plane

Ask The Pilot is a regular Salon column. Recently there was a good one, essentially about how hard or easy it is to fly and land a plane nowadays:

"But wait, he goes on. "Most of the time," says heyja, "pilots will push the seats back, push a button, never look out the window, arranging their Jeppsens [sic], drink their coffee, whine about the Democrats and their disappearing pensions." (from Ask The Pilot)

to which he retorts:

"Compare, for a moment, an airline flight with a medical procedure. That's as good an analogy as any, I think. I propose that in order to deliver an airplane safely to its destination, the knowledge and expertise required of the pilot are roughly equivalent to those required of a surgeon in order to safely perform an operation. Doctors and pilots both reap the benefits of advanced technology. It makes their jobs easier. Albeit not easy, and in no way does it diminish the requisite skill, knowledge, experience and responsibility." (from Ask the Pilot)

Do you buy it? After all, he is an actual pilot. He should know 🙂 Read the article: Tedium in the age of terror

pilot flying airplanes askthepilot