• Question: Is it a good idea to study engineering if you want to be a pilot?

    Asked by carlisleunitedfc to Ant, Dan, Matt, Mike, Steph on 15 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: Stephanie Tomlinson

      Stephanie Tomlinson answered on 15 Mar 2012:

      I know someone who studied mechanical engineering as has trained to be a pilot. Unfortunately it is very difficult to get work as a pilot so he is doing engineering in the aeronautical industry instead. So if you like planes ( & like maths, physics, being vreative and solving problems), then studying engineering would be a good idea – just in case the pilot career does not take off. (apologies for the pun)

    • Photo: Matt Maddock

      Matt Maddock answered on 15 Mar 2012:

      I would think it’s an excellent idea! I know that if was going to be in charge of an aeroplane, I’d want to have as good an understanding as possible of how it worked!

    • Photo: Anthony Hollingsworth

      Anthony Hollingsworth answered on 15 Mar 2012:

      Yes, even though pilot skills are mostly something you dont learn at school (but you will need maths at least for that). Its a very competitive job as lots of people want to be one! If you study engineering and physics and understand how everything works then you would have a big advantage over other people and it would be much more easy for you to get the job you want

    • Photo: Mike Salter

      Mike Salter answered on 15 Mar 2012:

      I know someone who studied aerospace engineering who’s now been accepted onto a pilot training scheme.

      Sounds great to me!

    • Photo: Dan Veal

      Dan Veal answered on 19 Mar 2012:

      just for fun I asked advice from another engineer at work, James, who said this!

      “I have a few pilot friends; they studied mech eng, aero eng and mathematics. They also all learnt to fly small planes while at University, when it was highly subsidised.”

Comments

  • Photo: Dan

    Dan commented on :

    Another guy, Andrew, who flies planes from work said….

    “Commercial pilots may find some parts of engineering/physics useful, as they will need to understand the basics of propulsion systems appropriate to their aircraft (jets, turboprobs) as well as general principles such as aerodynamic lift, drag, weight and balance, unit conversions, etc. Also a good grounding in maths which accompanies engineering is also useful for e.g. navigation calculations, fuel burn predictions etc. However many ab initio recruits with major airlines join with A-levels or equivalent.