Why Are Pilots Like That?
excerpts from Disciples of Flight Pilot Personality Types
Have you ever talked to a cop who is off duty? There’s something there…it still seeps through. You can’t quite put your finger on it, but he seems cop-like. As I am sitting in an FBO drinking their free coffee (and wondering how often they clean the coffee pot), I watch pilots and passengers drifting in and out of the waiting area and most of the time I can tell who is a pilot and who is a passenger. What are the signals that pilots radiate that non-pilots don’t? Perhaps it is the self-assurance, focused manner and gait exhibited by the pilots whereas the passengers seem anxious and bewildered.
The Air Line Pilots Association has conducted studies on the pilot personality. They concluded that pilots tend to exhibit 24 traits. Traits are the ways that we typically respond to given situations. Obviously, every pilot won’t have each and every trait but they tend to have at least half of them. How many of these pilot personality traits do you THINK you have?
The 24 Pilot Personality Traits
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Physically and mentally healthy
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Reality based
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Self-sufficient
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Difficulty trusting anyone to do a job as well as themselves
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Suspicious
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Intelligent but not intellectual
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They like “toys”
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Good at taking things apart and putting them back together
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Concrete, practical, linear thinkers rather than abstract, philosophical, or theoretical.
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More analytical than emotional.
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Reality-oriented
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Goal-oriented
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Short term goal orientation and not long-term goal driven.
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Bimodal (black/white, on/off, good/bad, safe/unsafe)
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Tend to modify environment instead of their behavior
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Hunger for excitement
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Competitive
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Do not handle failure well
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Low tolerance for personal imperfection
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Long memories of perceived injustices.
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Draw conclusions about people at a glance rather than relying on long and emotion-laden conversation.
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Avoid introspection
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Have difficulty revealing, expressing, or even recognizing feelings.
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When experiencing unwanted feelings, a tendency to mask them with humor or anger.
Dolly Ozols 808 209 4444