What Makes a Pilot a Professional?

From the cockpit, KC-135 ready for take-off

Wikipedia tells us that the term “professional” comes from the french "profession libérale”, or liberal profession. After a little more internet surfing, I have concluded that these words come from the specialized knowledge base and general scholarship required of the true professional. 

You “profess” a world view that you hold in common with your fellow professionals. That is, you have a certain knowledge base that makes you helpful to society. Based on their specialized knowledge, the doctor can prescribe a useful course of healing for his patients. The lawyer has the best advice for his clients. The teacher can ensure students have every chance to learn. That's all that's needed, right? No.

The other term, “liberal”, seems to hark back to the time when a well-rounded, educated person would have a “liberal education”. A person would have an education that covered all subjects. That meaning seems to have drifted a bit today as degrees are awarded in very specialized fields, driving a gulf between arts and sciences. But a true professional is a well-rounded person, able to understand and use any knowledge required in support of his specialized knowledge.

In other words, you know the best technical answer. But you also have a solid enough understanding of areas outside your expertise to be able to plot a course that has the best chance of success for those who depend on you. So "profession libérale” pretty much covers the definition of being a professional. 

Or does it? Perhaps there is one more component.

It was 1981. I was aircraft commander on a KC-135Q and sitting at the end of the runway awaiting the right conditions for takeoff. With me were my co-pilot, navigator, and boom operator. I was leading a two ship formation to support an operational mission for the SR-71 Blackbird Spy Plane. So that second KC-135Q and 4-man crew were waiting there as well.

We needed to take off within the next few minutes to make sure we could successfully complete our mission. But I was not ready to give the order for my formation to takeoff.

There was a thunderstorm traversing the field. Taking off under those conditions was not safe.

My navigator was giving me constant updates on our timing. If I did not take off soon, our mission, given to us by the top leadership in our nation, would fail.

I had the base weather officer with me on the radio as well, giving us constant updates on the movement of the storm.

And we had the full colonel commander of the base in the tower ensuring this young captain (me) had all the information I needed.

I took it all in, and made the call with seconds to spare. Our two-ship formation took off safely, delivered the fuel, and the mission was successful.

Later, I had a crew member compliment me for not bending to the pressure from the colonel to take off earlier. I was honestly startled. I was so busy focusing-in on the problem at hand and the decision to be made, that I did not even perceive the colonel’s pressure. The crew member assured me that subtext was there the whole time. The colonel wanted me to take off NOW. But of course he could not order me to do so. As aircraft commander, that was my call.

Was the reality that the colonel was pressuring me? Or was it only perceived pressure? It really does not matter. What matters is what happens.

I started this article with a definition of "profession libérale” that implies quite a bit of education and training is needed to start in a profession. And that education includes a liberal dose of all subjects.

That is not all that makes a pilot a professional.

Some pretty knowledgeable people go through life concerned each second about what others may think. They thrash one way or the other, stressing and bending under their perception of that pressure. They expend energy and worry, trying to understand where they stand in others eyes.

The professional pilot knows the right course, makes the call, and lives with the results. 

Nothing else.



++++++++++++++++++
What other ways do pilots exhibit professional behavior? Comments below.

Comments

  1. Retired Cold WarriorJanuary 11, 2015 at 6:46 PM

    Latest on a liberal education at the USAF Academy: https://www.aacu.org/publications-research/periodicals/commitment-liberal-education-united-states-air-force-academy

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Improve Your Position

Image
In 1980, getting to the point of takeoff with this 25 year old aircraft was a real maintenance challenge We are still flying these aircraft, albeit the water-injected engines have been replaced A KC-135 in-flight refueling mission often started with my radio alarm going off at 3am. Aware of my wife's low and steady breathing, I quickly kill the alarm and quietly rise from bed to take a shower. I had set the alarm for 3 because I need to be at the air refueling rendezvous point on time. There is a precise spot out there in time and space. If I am not there, the receiver does not get his fuel. Recon does not happen. Top military and civilian leaders will be without the timely intel they need to keep the peace in the Cold War.  So that's my mission. Get the receivers the fuel they need to do their mission. Not really all that glamorous. But important. Now fully awake from the bracing shower, I tiptoe around the bedroom to get my flight suit and other gear my as wife sleeps p...
Read more

My 1st USAF Operational Assignment, Inflight Refueling the SR-71

Image
Flying KC-135s was my first assignment after graduating from the Air Force Academy and after general pilot training. I was co-pilot and then aircraft commander. Born in 1952, my life was very much affected by the years immediately following WWII. This was a time of optimism, a tremendous boom in aerospace, and dreams of a push-button future. My Dad’s B-24 bomber was pretty amazing technology that helped win the War. But post-war, the B-24s were scrap and there were now screaming jet engines, electronic computers getting smaller all the time, and advanced aircraft that could fly to the edge of space itself -- the stratosphere. One of these aircraft was the KC-135 Stratotanker whose operational ceiling was 50,000 feet. Above that, the pilot wears a spacesuit.   The first KC-135A rolled off the assembly line in 1956. They remain key assets today. I flew them from 1977 to 1982. The KC-135 aircraft is a Boeing product and looks a great deal like the Boeing 707, which was its contemporar...
Read more

My Crew

I was a cautious, safety-minded aircraft commander when I flew KC-135 tankers. I read all the pilot bulletins and Strategic Air Command safety magazines, so I knew how a moment of inattentiveness could lead to tragedy. And if my aircraft went down, it would not just kill me, but also my crew, others on board if we were hauling passengers, maybe the aircraft we were refueling, possibly people on the ground. I combated inattentiveness with a few tricks including good habits. If you do it right each time, no matter what, then when you are in a hurry you will do it right. For instance, the old tanker was a “water wagon”. It needed de-ionized water injected into the engines at take-off to get off the ground. During the aircraft commander’s walk around, one of the things we looked at was a fan recessed into the engine cowling. I would give that fan a twist at each engine to make sure it would turn. Sometimes, in very cold weather, that fan could freeze and that would mean no water and no ext...
Read more