Is the job of a pilot anything different (difficulter... etc) than other jobs (lawyer etc.)?

Question

For me, I think it's the same. As a pilot, you have to pay attention to some instruments, as a lawyer, you have to pay attention to different things.... But in the end, it's the same..... Don't you think so?

Answer 1

One distinction of piloting is that it is one of the most heavily regulated professions in the world.  Lawyers are regulated but not nearly as oppressively as pilots; doctors and lawyers (especially doctors) have to go to school for quite a while and get specialized training, but the continuing regulatory burden on their professions thereafter is much lighter.  Pilots have to get physical exams every six months, and if they fail, their career is over.  They have to prove again and again that they know how to fly a plane, throughout their careers.  Almost every move they make is controlled by extensive regulations, either government regulations or airline regulations.

So I would say that a key characteristic of being a pilot that differentiates it from most other professions is the heavy regulatory burden.

Answer 2

As J Ball said, both professions require dedication and hard work to excel in them, and the level of mental preparedness can be much the same albeit in different areas of expertise.

The major difference:

For a lawyer, if you make a mistake it can be rectified through the appeal process or otherwise and (except in capital punishment cases) people's lives generally aren't in immediate danger. For a pilot, if you #%@* up, PEOPLE DIE; there is no appeal to the law of gravity.

Answer 3

Professional pilots' duty and rest time can be regulated.  That's not in order to be kind to them.  It's because what they do matters.  Do you see laws being made requiring that lawyers get sufficient rest?  No?  Ok.

Fly a plane when you're tired and get back to us.

Answer 4

I think comparing a pilot to a surgeon is more fitting than comparing pilots with lawyers. Both involve caring for the safety of others, and if a pilot or surgeon screws up, people's lives are at stake. Also, both pilots and surgeons work long hours, and can be called to work at any time, if I'm not mistaken.

Answer 5

Michael, I am not, nor have I ever been a pilot. I have been around a lot of them in my former job. I was a customer service agent for a major airline for 22 years. I have also been around a lot of attorneys.

The biggest difference is decision-making. An attorney may have days or weeks to make a decision. A pilot may only have a split second. The difference is an attorney possibly loosing a case, while many lives depend on a pilot's decision.

Robert J. Serling wrote a book titled "Loud and Clear" a while back. It is probably in your local library. Read Chapter 4, "It's Whats Up Front That Counts." It tells the story of four airline captains and what they did when the chips were down. Theirs are the reasons that airline captains are paid what they are.

I read what the ex-pilot now-lawyer wrote, and what he says is true. However, there is a huge amount of difference between a light aircraft pilot and a commercial airline pilot. The difference is the continual training and flying into weather and difficult situations that commercial pilots do.

Regards,

Dan

Answer 6

As a former pilot who is now in law school and who has worked at a law firm, I think I can add a few thoughts.

There are some similarities, but also big differences between being a pilot and a lawyer or other more 'normal' types of jobs. It really comes down to personal preference as to which one a person likes better.

Both require you to be responsible for important issues. As a pilot, you're paid to safely get your passengers from A to B. As a lawyer, you're paid to take care of important legal issues for your clients.

Both jobs take a lot of work and perseverance to succeed. It not only takes a lot of work and training to be admitted to the professional, but takes committment to make it to the upper levels of the profession - i.e. an Airline Captain or a Senior Partner.

There are however some key differences.

The first is the nature of the job. You simply do different tasks. One you're flying a plane, the other you're doing 'lawyer stuff'. One is in an aircraft and one is in an office. Although 'lawyer stuff' is vague, there generally can be more options for lawyers in the different type of work that they do. For example, some lawyers do corporate law, others go to court on a regular basis. For pilots, although there are different types of airline jobs, the procedures of flying a plane are all relatively the same.

Another big issue is the time spent away from home. As a nature of their job, pilots travel a lot. While some lawyers do travel or work long hours, in general, they go to the office during the day and go home at night and usually work a standard (albeit long) work day. Pilots can work at any hour of the day.

Overall though, I'd say that they are very different jobs. The key consideration is how you enjoy spendign your time. I've known many lawyers who find spending hours in an office looking over documents or writing memos to be really boring. On the other hand, I've known many pilots who find sitting in a cockpit for 10 hours watching the autopilot fly the plane to be really boring. On the flip side, I know both pilots and lawyers who love their job and can't fathom doing anything else.

For me personally, I like the intellectual challenge of working in a law firm, but there are definitely days where I miss blasting through the sky in the turbo-prop I used to fly!

Cheers,

James Ball

Author of "So, You Want to be a Pilot, Eh? - A Guidebook for Canadian Pilot Training"

http://www.piloteh.com

http://www.piloteh.blgospot.com

Answer 7

There is a big difference as a pilot is responsible for a mult-million dollar aircraft and the lives of all the crew and passengers, not to count the people living and working underneath the plane as it flies to its destination.  Pilots need to be in good physical and mental health and undergo a lot of training all throughout their career.

Answer 8

I am an attorney and also an ATP with jet type ratings and I currently practice law and fly jets professionally. I must say it is something to be drafting a federal court pleading on Friday and then to fly a charter jet with Hollywood notables on board on Saturday. That was what I did over the past 48 hours or so. Anyway, you can do both---I'm living proof. There are very significant differences. But there are also some skills that do transfer. I can tell you for sure, however, that doing either one (law or jet pilot) does not assure that you could do the other. And, as someone who does both, I can say that they are not "the same". After you have years of attorney experience and have also been to FL 430 to top the weather or to FL 430 steering clear of the 50,000+ CB tops, you can get back to us about the differences. It's important, though, to take an eagerness to learn and the discipline to study into whatever fields you choose. Good luck!

Answer 9

"Long periods of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror"

is our job description

point made

you decide.

i guess big difference is that lawyers get paid more with no possibility of dying on duty while pilots are paid less and run the risk of getting killed.