Interesting how many engineers, and especially EEs there are on this
thread.

Anyway, I've got a BSEE and work in the semiconductor business. To me,
comparing flying IFR and doing my job is really just apples and
oranges.

I don't do enough flying in IMC to say that it is second nature for me,
and it probably never will be, but overall, the intellectual task is
not anywhere as difficult as circuit design. Then again, when I was
doing design, if I got confused while doing my day job, I could get up,
get a cup of coffee and chat in the breakroom until I was ready to face
my workstation. Can't do that in an airplane.

Nowadays, I'm an FAE (Field Apps) and, while meeting with customers
there is a real-time component to the job, but still, it's nothing like
IFR flight. As someone else said: death is not a likely outcome from a
customer meeting. (Aside from the times I want to kill my customers.)

So, I think the difference is that learning to fly IFR is not as taxing
mentally as an advanced degree or practicing an art that requires an
advanced degree. However, flying requires quick thinking and constant
attention that few other domains approach.

For the computer nerds: design engineering is like running a huge, cpu
and disk instensive cad tool on your GHz PC. Flying is like a little
high-priority service routine that only burns a few MIPS of that CPU.
However, god help you if you don't handle that interrupt in a timely
manner.

For all you super-duper engineer pilots out there, try solving
Schroedinger's wave equation while flying in IMC. No autopilots or
scratch paper allowed.

Dave J

jacobowitz73 --at-- yahoo --dot-- com