ABSTRACT
The most common aspirations were: to get a promotion (to either Captain or Training Captain); to get involved in the training of more junior pilots (as one respondent explained, so he could ‘put something back in’); to change to a different type of flying (some wished to fly long-haul, others short-haul); to move to a part-time contract (sometimes because the respondent wanted a lighter workload); to get involved in airline management; to fly large, modern, ‘cutting edge’ aircraft (the Airbus A380 was mentioned); to fly small aircraft (there may have been a perception that small aircraft make more demands on a pilot’s ‘stick-and-rudder’ flying skills – skills that pilots seemed proud to have acquired); to secure more relaxed rosters and more time off; to get through the next simulator session, recurrent aeromedical examination and check-ride (for some respondents such checks seemed to generate a degree of psychological pressure).
