How intelligent/smart must you be to be a pilot??

[semperfido]

.....we don't get french benefits?

 

[cezzna]

After teaching many to fly i would agree that certain motor skills mixed with mental agility (intelligence?) greatly predict the success of a pilot. People who are good at learning to do other things in motion learn to fly well. I found that people who had athletic talent (good eye hand coordination) did much better also. If you gave me someone and I could ascertain their backround skill set, mix that with intelligence and I will have a good predictor of success. Someone who can work on their own car, play basketball, waterski, drive a stickshift car smoothly, learn how to operate a new cellphone without asking for help, will do well. Someone who can only drive an automatic, always goes to jiffy-lube, weighs 250 lbs because the only running they do is from airconditioning to airconditioning, has to read the manual on his new cellphone, will most likely fail.

 

[Gorilla]

Actually there was a program on the Military Chanel series Legends of Air power recently which documented the life of some USAF fighter pilot pack in the Vietnam era. He was the one who came up with the battle strategy adopted my the military and implemented so well in the two gulf wars. The guy had an IQ of 90 (ninety).

'Sled

I'm pretty sure you're referring to USAF pilot John Boyd. If so, Boyd's supposed IQ of 90 is a joke. He took the test as a very young man, and I'm sure approached it with a "Who gives a <bleep>" atttitude which was pretty typical for him. Boyd was one of the deepest thinkers ever to grace a cockpit. Google the term "OODA loop" for about 5,000 web sites devoted to this concept. Here's the first one:

http://www.mindsim.com/MindSim/Corporate/OODA.html


Great biography of John Boyd, a terrific read:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316881465/102-6397559-2359346?v=glance&n=283155

Back to the topic - because there are so many "levels" of being a pilot, I don't think there is a simple answer. Does it require high intelligence to solo a C152? No. How about being a 4-ship mission commander on a combat sortie? Or piloting the Space Shuttle? I think these certainly require well above average intelligence. So there is certainly a range involved with this question.

 

[Headwind]

If you feel you're special because of your piloting skills remember that a monkey was put into space before John Glenn.
All kidding aside, some very intelligent people can't multi-task. To be a good pilot the ability to multi-task is more important than an above average IQ.

 

[enigma]

At one gate an airliner piloted by a genius and his genius FO awaits to depart for your home; just down the terminal, another airliner piloted by a moron and his moron FO awaits to depart to your home town. You hold a ticket home, and you can choose either airplane. Do you choose the genius or the moron?

Obviously, most normal persons can be trained to "fly" an airplane. I'm living proof that you don't have to be a genius to succeed as an airline Captain.

Luckily, the environment we operate in weeds out most of the morons before they get the chance to fail.

 

[NYCPilot]

Sometimes being smart seems average or normal until you've meet someone really stupid. If you think a certain way, you feel everyone should at least possess that minimal amount of common sense and intellect that you yourself do in most situations. Whats obvious to you may not be obvious to others. Most smart people think they're not all that smart and realize they have a lot to learn. Most people who think they're smart arent all that smart and think they know it all.

By the way, the average person thinks they're smarter than the average person.

 

[A Squared]

At one gate an airliner piloted by a genius and his genius FO awaits to depart for your home; just down the terminal, another airliner piloted by a moron and his moron FO awaits to depart to your home town. You hold a ticket home, and you can choose either airplane. Do you choose the genius or the moron?

well, I don't know, actually. Often true geniuses are fairly incompetent at real life things (human relations, driving, rational decision-making, things like that)

If it was a choice between a crew that was just slightly smarter then average or one that was just slightly dumber than average, it would be close, but I'd go with the smarter crew. If it was a choice between slightly dumber than average, and a crew with true extrordinary genius, I might opt for the slightly below average crew.

 

[VNugget]

Most smart people think they're not all that smart and realize they have a lot to learn. Most people who think they're smart arent all that smart and think they know it all.

Given that, I tried to analyze which one of the 2 I am, and ended up stuck in an infinite loop. GAAAH!

 

[PAPA FOX!]

imacdog, a college education does necessarily correlate to intelligence. Look at Bill Gates, no degree; look a David Neilman no degree. I have tested many college grads that score below non-grads on our entrance test. Will a college grad normally score above a non-degreed guy depends upon the guy.

Pilot YIP,


How do the pilots score on USA Jet's enterance test compared to the general population on average? I would assume a little higher but not a lot. Just a guess though.

 

[whaleroast]

I apparently passed the Wonderlik, so I must be smart.