Can an aspie get a job flying a plane?

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I recently have become interested in the idea of flying a small plane as I feel it would be adventurous at this point of my life. What I am wondering is whether or not this idea is realistic. I hear my friends talk about their passions for certain jobs or going into the army and i wanna have some too but would something like this be possible for an aspie to do?

I once asked a pilot, he said flying a plane is all about pressing the right buttons on the computarized panel and checking the clocks all the time. He thought it was quite monotonous, boring and unchallenging for him. That's all I know...

There's no reason why you couldn't. My dad has a lot of very pronounced autistic traits and he has his pilot's license.

As far as a job flying a plane, that would more likely be a commercial airliner- not a "small plane" at all, and much more complicated than the little Cessnas you would learn in. If you're interested in flying planes for the military, you'd better have amazing vision and be in excellent physical condition.

Start by finding a local flight school and take some lessons. The lessons are typically $130 per hour or so, including having the instructor with you in the cockpit. The plane you'd fly is usually Cessna 172. Most schools have a special discount for your first flight. See if you like the experience. If you do, work toward getting a private pilot license (PPL). The medical exam requirements for a PPL are pretty relaxed. Being AS doesn't even factor into it. If you can drive, you can probably fly a Cessna as well.

Commercial pilot license is nothing like the PPL schools. It is more demanding, medical exam is more strict, and school is very expensive. You'd need to get a student loan as if you were paying tuition at a college and you'd pay that off after you graduated. After graduation you'd need to build flight hours as a co-pilot in a low paying job with regional airline or cargo service before you'd be allowed to fly big airliners for big bucks.

Start small first and go for a PPL!

Military pilots need to become commisioned officers first and then they are considered for a flight slot. Exception is the Army where warrant officers can fly helos. Army accepts civilians straight into the Warrant Officer program. (In the other branches, only the senior NCOs are accepted into WO.) So forget this path unless you are willing to commit to 4 years of ROTC or OCS, followed by flight training, followed by being government's b***h until they say otherwise, followed by most likely flying cargo planes or refueling tankers. Only very very few get to fly fighters.

EDIT. Here:
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&um=1& ... k+new+york

Pick a school operating out of a small airfield. Trust me. You don't want to be paying them money holding short behind a 757. And you don't want your first flying experience to be flying in a really busy air space. It'd be like learning to drive in Manhattan.

I am a "failed" pilot i have 3500 hours of flight time and was a very good flight instructor in small planes. But when I got hired as an airline pilot I could not keep up. I suggest you start flying and see where it goes. Be honest with yourself and realize that this is something you need to be very honest about. Will you be a safe pilot if carrying passengers and something goes wrong, I wanted to continue trying to be an airline pilot but I realized that i could not do so safely.....But this may not be you, you may have excellent organizational skills and interpersonal skills.

I used to fly in around the years 2001 and 2002. I started right around 9/11. While I was in flight school, the planes were grounded for a long time. I flew Cessna 150's and 172's. I loved that experience, but sadly my anxiety got in the way and I was too afraid to solo. Even though I had the hours to solo, I wouldn't do it. I have a total of about 40 hours flight time and would love to fly again. I know I am not medically qualified to fly now due to my mental illness, but I can always have someone with me. Before 9/11, I really wanted to become an airline pilot. My dream was to fly 747's or 777's. I'm talking about the big time.

     I don't want to sound too much of a wet blanket; but, at least in Australia, I would have considerable doubts. About 8 years ago, I somehow got the idea I wanted to learn to fly, and I thought I had enough money at the time to do so, but I realized my life-long mental-health history might be an issue; so I spent quite a bit of time researching this.
     In Australia, decisions about things like this are made by CASA (Civil Aviation Safety Authority), which is a Federal Government authority. I spent quite a bit of time on their web site, reading up the bits I thought might apply to me; and, while there wasn't a hard rule that said that you couldn't fly if you were autistic or had Asperger's, the prospects for various medical conditions were mentioned, and one thing I read was that it was expected that an application from an autistic person would not usually succeed (not "never", but "not usually").

     I don't know how much things differ between countries, but I will tell you what happened in my own case. I read through the Medical Examiners' Handbook which is on the CASA web site, and that is where I got most of my information.
     The decision by CASA seems to be based simply on the implications for flying safety that each illness would present, although I don't recall if I read any specific safety reasons that applied to autism. I came away from the web site feeling rather pessimistic, but thinking I had some hope.
     I had to present myself to a doctor for an aviation medical examination and get the doctor to sign a form saying that he believed I was fit to fly safely before I could get a Private Pilot's Licence (P.P.L.). Actually, I think I could do the lessons without this, because I think (the details have faded slightly from memory now) the medical approval became required only once you were ready to do your G.F.P.T. (General Flying Progress Test), which was an interim step you had to pass before you could do your first solo flight. So if the doctor didn't give me medical approval, I could in fact continue my lessons up to the G.F.P.T. stage; but there would be no point in wasting money doing so without any assurance I could go any further.
     So I arranged an appointment with a doctor licenced to do aviation medical examinations, and he asked me all sorts of questions, which I answered truthfully. I even said that, because of my probable autism/Asperger's, I had been on a government pension for many years, and he immediately stopped and said I could basically forget it. While there wasn't any actual rule that said you couldn't get a pilot's licence if you were on a disability pension, he thought it was probable that CASA would take the view that if I wasn't well enough to work I wouldn't be well enough to fly a plane either. I tried to tell him reasons why this might not be so, and I think he even conceded I might be right, but he didn't think there was any chance CASA would see it this way. He ceased the examination straight away and advised me to give up on the whole thing. I was shattered by this, and the only good thing to come out of that appointment was that the doctor waived the fee he would normally have charged, and that he didn't send any report at all to CASA.
     After getting over the shock of this, I decided to try another doctor - and this time I didn't mention that I was on a pension, and, while I was truthful about my previous history with depression and other issues, I didn't mention autism or Asperger's, and tried to give him the impression that I was getting over the depression. (I'm not sure if I was doing so at the time, but I honestly believed that pursuing this flying thing would help me get over it.) He had his doubts, but said he believed I was otherwise fit to fly, and sent his report to CASA.
     Unfortunately CASA had doubts too, and sent word back that they required me to be evaluated by a psychiatrist before they would give me clearance. I duly went to the psychiatrist, and it was one of the most nerve-wracking things I've ever done, and I constantly felt like I was trying to walk on eggs without breaking them. I couldn't lie about anything (not only is it an extremely serious offence under the Aviation Act to do so, but lying is against my nature anyway, and something I cannot do convincingly); but I didn't want to tell the psychiatrist anything that would ground me for life. The question I most feared was what I did for a living; and I came closest to telling a lie there: I told him I was a musician, but not doing much at the moment. Well, I am a pianist, but have never done it professionally for money. I think the only thing that prevented this from being a complete lie was that the psychiatrist didn't say "What do you do for a living?" or "Where do you get your income?" but something more like "What do you do?" or "What is your occupation?" - to which versions my answer was at least a little truthful. But I was sweating inside, and wondered whether he would notice it and smell a rat.
     I also had to tell him my previous psychiatric history, but like with the earlier doctor I tried to make it sound as if I were improving.
     Well, I'll never know what he thought of all this, and I'm sure he must have had at least a few doubts, although he did tell me I was probably fit enough to fly; but he sent his report to CASA, and apparently they thought I would be okay too, and they cleared me.
     I did about 45 hours' flying lessons through most of 2002, and enjoyed it a lot; but money became an issue, and I also found I was learning a lot of the stuff, both theory and practical flying skills, considerably slower than most flying students do, and began to wonder if I had the ability to learn such a complex skill. Perhaps my age of 48 at the time was telling against me, and maybe that's just too old for most people to learn to fly - I don't know. But I reluctantly decided that I had to give it away at that point.

     But, as a result of all this, my answer to the original question was that maybe autism wouldn't be a total, absolute barrier in Australia; but I do believe it would probably seriously reduce your chances of even getting a P.P.L. I was not even considering (at that point anyway) going for a Commercial Pilot's Licence (C.P.L.); but the requirements for that are hugely stricter, both in terms of the actual learning you must do and the degree of health you must have - and I would imagine that, while it was touch and go whether I would get a P.P.L. (I didn't, but because of personal reasons, not failing to meet the regulations), I would never have had the slightest chance of getting a C.P.L. I suppose there's the possibility that, if I had got my P.P.L. and done well after that, my medical history may carry less weight against me when it came to applying for a C.P.L.
     In Australia at least, I certainly do not agree with the statement in an earlier post that if you can get a driver's licence you can get a pilot's licence. Getting my driver's licence (which I did very late in life, only a few years before I started flying lessons) was a doddle by comparison, and they hardly went into my psychiatric history at all, and the little bit I had to say about that in a questionnaire didn't seem to count for much at all.
     I'm not sure if this helps, me being in Australia, which I imagine you (the original enquirer) aren't; but it is one perspective, anyway.

Regards, Michael.

I am an Aspie and I have a license to fly a soaring plane (better known as a glider) solo. All that is required is to pass the written tests and the test flight with an F.A.A. evaluator.

The same pertains to flying a motor driven aircraft. Getting a flying license is a very objective procedure. Pass the test, pass the evaluation and you have the license.

ruveyn

I very seriously doubt you would be able to fly a commercial aircraft.

Private flying (for fun), perhaps you might be able to do.

Except on a bad day....

I'm very curious now...why are organizational and interpersonal skills crucial for an airline pilot?

If operators of automobiles were as carefully vetted as pilots there would be only 1/10 as many people operating cars legally.

Being licensed to fly is much tougher. And so it must be. When you are Up There one cannot pull over to the side when things get confused. You either fly right or you die.

ruveyn

My brother, who has Aspergers, took flying lessons and was told he was very good at it, despite throwing up over the instructor (he'd never been in a plane before) It was before he was diagnosed though, so I don't know if he would have been allowed to fly if they knew he had Aspergers.

All airliners are flown by at least two pilots. You need good interpersonal skills because you need to work very, very closely as a team with the other one.

You need to be organized in an emergency, when you need to be calm and think and act quickly and rationally. You also need to be organized to do all the paperwork and "procedural" stuff that is involved.

I am not a pilot but I know a lot of pilots and it is absolutely not a job for a person who is disorganized, cannot handle pressure or does not work well with others.

Oh, I see. I didn't know there were always 2 in the cabin.

Malcolm Gladwell talks about this in the book "Outliers". He talks about how when things go wrong, you need to be able to communicate. This is probably not so much for private plane fliers. I think that sounds reasonable.

Of course, all of us are different, and some Aspies are more verbal than others. I actually like talking to others but I wouldn't say its all so appropriate.

--des

Are you SURE he was a pilot!?!?!? You can say the SAME about cars and computers, but WOULD you!?!?

A plane ALSO requires being awere of where YOU are, the PLANE is, and where you are trying to go. I know all about planes, and would LOVE to fly, but the larger ones would scrae me, since I wouldn't have the buffer space I would want. You don't simply activate controls, you have to activate them at the right time. Sometimes a SECOND early or late can mean a DISASTER!