"Andrew Sarangan" wrote in message
ps.com...
This is exactly the type of comments that makes me sad to hear from
pilots - 'not everyone is cut out to be a pilot'. This attempts to make
the point that pilots are some kind of superior being.

Well, for better or for worse, the point is valid, even if the justification
here is not.

I tend to agree with you that time to solo is much more indicative of issues
related to the instruction. Either a problem with the instructor himself,
or perhaps related to stretching the flying out way too infrequently (I
actually made two attempts to learn to fly...in the first, I flew 17 hours
over the span of five months, and never did solo by the end of that time).

However, I also believe that it is true that "not everyone is cut out to be
a pilot". Of course, I also hold the radical view that not everyone is cut
out to drive a motor vehicle or operate a personal computer connected to the
Internet, to name a couple of things that as a society we take as a right
rather than a privilege, even though that "right" carries great potential
for harm to others.

As you correctly point out, the bulk of being a pilot has to do with
judgment and factual knowledge, rather than motor skills (especially with
current aircraft design...this wasn't always true, IMHO). And frankly, not
everyone is capable of exercising the judgment, nor of learning the factual
knowledge, required to be a pilot.

In some cases, this impairment is due to some real physiological issue,
though in most cases it's simply due to a basic lack of motivation and
responsibility on the applicant's part. Either way, you're left with the
fact that there are people out there who simply will never be able to become
a pilot.

Pete