Airline career question.

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Fabio

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Fabio
hello folks.
For those of you in the industry and for others with experience I need some opinions.
My son which is a senior in high school,will start this summer at the local aviation college to embark in an aviation career as a pilot.
He stands at 6’4” tall.....is it too tall to pursue a airline career? Are they going to be discriminating towards him because of his hight?
He flies with me in a172 and Cherokee and has no trouble squeezing in and sit comfortably for hours.....152’s whole other story.
Thanks for all the help.
 
No. I was almost 6’4” when I got hired and one of my colleagues is 6’7”.
 
No. He will be fine. The cockpits (usually) only get bigger as the airplane gets bigger. If he wants to fly fighters, he wont be able to do that. BTW 6'5 here.
 
No, but rethink the aviation college. Get a degree in something to give a fall back when the industry goes bad. When you get that first layoff a degree in anything aviation qualifies you to say would you like to supersize that. Think about it, you get layed off and your degree is in the industry that is laying off people? Not a good combination. I made more in the lean years with an engineering degree than the fist 10 years flying.
 
unsafervguy said:
No, but rethink the aviation college. Get a degree in something to give a fall back when the industry goes bad. When you get that first layoff a degree in anything aviation qualifies you to say would you like to supersize that. Think about it, you get layed off and your degree is in the industry that is laying off people? Not a good combination. I made more in the lean years with an engineering degree than the fist 10 years flying.
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This is really good advice. The airlines don’t care what the degree is in.
 
unsafervguy said:
No, but rethink the aviation college. Get a degree in something to give a fall back when the industry goes bad. When you get that first layoff a degree in anything aviation qualifies you to say would you like to supersize that. Think about it, you get layed off and your degree is in the industry that is laying off people? Not a good combination. I made more in the lean years with an engineering degree than the fist 10 years flying.
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This is really good advice. The airlines don't care what the degree is in. Oh wait, Greg already said that.

My degree is in Geology. I still use it when I look out the window from my office at FL370. I'm 6'2" Never furloughed, but I had a back up plan - and it was MUCH less expensive than an airplane degree. Might take longer to get to the airlines by a year or so going the non airplane degree route, but what's a year at age 65? Plus, that degree got my brain trained on something that sometimes I didn't like. Taught me how to learn things that are not interesting, like structural geology and xray crystalography. Yuck. These skills still apply today. Like when I'm having to build a learning module about stuff that is necessary for the job and yuck.

Whatever the best GPA that one can earn is the best degree - was advice given to me from an aviation consulting firm.

It is an awesome job, and sometimes a good career!
 
Fabio said:
hello folks.
For those of you in the industry and for others with experience I need some opinions.
My son which is a senior in high school,will start this summer at the local aviation college to embark in an aviation career as a pilot.
He stands at 6’4” tall.....is it too tall to pursue a airline career? Are they going to be discriminating towards him because of his hight?
He flies with me in a172 and Cherokee and has no trouble squeezing in and sit comfortably for hours.....152’s whole other story.
Thanks for all the help.
Click to expand...
I’m 6’6” and I taught in 152’s. About the only way the height will be an issue is sitting height in aircraft equipped with ejection seats. Not an issue in most transport category aircraft.
 
In my 20 year career with the airlines I was furloughed twice and a company went under on me. ALWAYS have the backup job. Several old crusty pilots with major airlines said that it's not if but when you will be furloughed. One laughed and said he had 5 different uniforms in his closet between furloughs and mergers he flew for 40 years.
 
Thank you so very much for all the reply.
Great information and I’ll let my son read through it so he can have an unbiased opinion since seldom they listen to their parents at that age.
 
I actually had a first officer that was 7'2"

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mwagg737 said:
Hehe... He was all legs. It was kind of Entertaining watching him squeeze into the cockpit of a SAAB 340.

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I have my 9th grade honors math students do a reading on cockpit design by Todd Rose, called the “The End of Average”. The statistical study was conducted to help determine why so many military pilots were crashing their planes back in the day. The stats collected highlighted the fact that cockpits were being designed to fit an “average pilot”, when in fact there was no such thing as an average pilot (meaning body dimensions). That began the revolution in designing the cockpit to fit the pilot rather than the other way around.
 
mwagg737 said:
Hehe... He was all legs. It was kind of Entertaining watching him squeeze into the cockpit of a SAAB 340.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
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Better than a 1900... believe me!
 
TipTanks said:
No. He will be fine. The cockpits (usually) only get bigger as the airplane gets bigger. If he wants to fly fighters, he wont be able to do that. BTW 6'5 here.
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As with all things in the fighter community, "it depends", and I'm not sure I agree with the blanket statement here.

I had a SQ/CC in the F-15E who was 6'7" with a normal athletic build and he fit in the Strike Eagle fine (despite looking like a circus bear riding a tricycle). Should also do fine in the A-10, since former NFL Defensive Tackle Chad Hennings (6'6" and about #250-ish at the time) fit into it.

Might not fit comfortably in a Viper, though.
 
Hacker said:
As with all things in the fighter community, "it depends", and I'm not sure I agree with the blanket statement here.

I had a SQ/CC in the F-15E who was 6'7" with a normal athletic build and he fit in the Strike Eagle fine (despite looking like a circus bear riding a tricycle). Should also do fine in the A-10, since former NFL Defensive Tackle Chad Hennings (6'6" and about #250-ish at the time) fit into it.

Might not fit comfortably in a Viper, though.
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Hacker beat me to it. I've had several bros over 6'5" flying fighters. Sitting height is the kicker.

Hacker - you mean a Dodge Viper? Like his cranium might stick out the top?
 
EvilEagle said:
Hacker - you mean a Dodge Viper? Like his cranium might stick out the top?
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No, but the tall bros I know in the Viper complain about nuggets hitting the canopy with the funky sitting position where they have to kind of hunch forward with their shoulders off the back of the seat. Guys with long legs have also complained about their shins hitting the bottom of the panel in the foot wells.

I am only 6'2" and I fit very comfortably in the 'pit of a Block 25 D model, so that's all secondhand info.
 
Hacker said:
No, but the tall bros I know in the Viper complain about nuggets hitting the canopy with the funky sitting position where they have to kind of hunch forward with their shoulders off the back of the seat. Guys with long legs have also complained about their shins hitting the bottom of the panel in the foot wells.

I am only 6'2" and I fit very comfortably in the 'pit of a Block 25 D model, so that's all secondhand info.
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Yeah man, I knew that. It was a jab on the fighting falcon drivers. C'mon bro, did you really lose it that fast after retiring???
 
Fabio said:
hello folks.
For those of you in the industry and for others with experience I need some opinions.
My son which is a senior in high school,will start this summer at the local aviation college to embark in an aviation career as a pilot.
He stands at 6’4” tall.....is it too tall to pursue a airline career? Are they going to be discriminating towards him because of his hight?
He flies with me in a172 and Cherokee and has no trouble squeezing in and sit comfortably for hours.....152’s whole other story.
Thanks for all the help.
Click to expand...

My kid brother and I are both 6'4". His legs a bit longer than mine.

I learned to fly in a Cessna 150; admittedly I was a lot lighter and a lot skinnier back then, so maybe that's why I don't recall any sort of fitment issues. :dunno:

Kid brother flew Hornets in the military before going to the airlines, and now flies the Boeing 787.
Don't think your son will have any problem. Wishing him every success in pursuit of his career choice!
 
Eric Stoltz said:
My degree is in Geology. I still use it when I look out the window from my office at FL370.
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That's actually a good backup plan. The geophysical/mapping guys would be interested in that, and still aviation.
 
No cosmic radiation either, so twofer lol.
 
It might be a little rough starting out but it can be done. One of my friends was flying Phenoms for Netjets and boy it's tight in there for the pilots, but the guy flying with him was taller than I was (I'm 6'1").
 
Surprised no-one has mentioned the FAA medical issue. The current FAA aeromedical process is a minefield of potential problems. It would be good that he is sure he can get a 1st class medical before investing much in flight training. Contact a local AME and have him go to do an AME consult to start with. Then if told he will pass, finish the application. Instructions on doing this at http://tinyurl.com/ame-consult.
 
Indeed. Yeah, if your parents didn't have the foresight or were too lazy not to let the education-industrial complex get a hold of ya and ZU-23 your medical records with disqualifying diagnosis and self-fulfilling medication peddling, I'd certainly not spend a nickle on commercial training.

I wonder if you could sue your parents for letting strangers vocationally sink you before you were legally allowed to consent in this wretched death-by-alphabet-soup-agencies life. TC...sorta.
 
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