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A Matter of Semantics

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by airportkid, Dec 19, 2011.

  1. airportkid

    airportkid Will Fly For Food

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    One of the problems with airplane pilots is if they fill up with beer at a Xmas party they can't fly and so wind up standing (teetering) next to the propane heater TALKING about flying, which is not usually a problem except that when it's beer doing the talking subjects that at the time seem heavy as a Boeing with significance consume the entire discussion over things trivial as a paper airplane. Last night's party got several pilots in a lather (or maybe it was beer froth) over whether there is such a thing as a pilot's license.

    The plastic ticket we carry in our wallets doesn't have the word license anywhere on it; it says certificate, with the holder rated to exercise specific privileges: instrument flying, instruction, multi-engine, etc. The California driver's license, on the other hand, says "license" in capital letters on the front. So the contention was, repeated loudly with a good deal of slurring, that pilot's don't have licenses, they have certificates, and are certified to fly, not licensed to fly.

    Bull, said others. Slurrily. Bruhll, they said, flourishing their beer can dramatically. License is not just a noun, it's an adjective. Somebody licensed to do something doesn't mean they hold a piece of plastic, it means they're qualified and their qualification is given official acknowledgement by some form of document. The document doesn't have to have word license on it because it, itself, isn't the license, it's only a handy proof that its holder has license. The hard proof of license is the document trail of qualification and matriculation, none of which have the word license on them either. And the license, itself, isn't physical; it's adjectivial, an attribute, a property that describes its holder.

    Thus a licensed pilot is not someone with a plastic card in his wallet, but someone who passed a checkride. The card in the wallet could say "permit" rather than "certificate" or "license" and it would still serve as proof of having "license" to fly.

    So, if you want to weigh in with your thoughts on the matter, have a couple beers first, maybe three, or four. Tall ones. Otherwise you won't think it matters. :p
     
    #1 airportkid, Dec 19, 2011
  2. ETC(SS)

    ETC(SS) The OTHER One Percenter.....

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    It seems to me being encumbered by neither ale nor a rating to fly anything heavier than an 8-/12 by 11 inch piece of paper that 'pilot' isn't what somebody does, but rather it is what they are.
    I can relate somewhat, being a submariner. I haven't been underwater, underway for (pausing to count....) 3 Commanders in Chief now.
    I'm still a sailor, part time.
    I'm still an ET, full time.
    I hold another warfare designator, in addition to the "SS" in my title.

    However (comma!) I'm still a submariner.
    Always will be.
    Marines (GOD bless them!) all feel the same way.
    So do Navy Chiefs.

    So....I suspect that it does not really matter what it says on your little plastical card or in your logbook.

    Not especially astute, but hey. I said that I was unencumbered by strong drink...remember? :D
     
    #2 ETC(SS), Dec 20, 2011
  3. seilerts

    seilerts Battery Curmudgeon

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    I think all pilots are certifiable...

    But kidding aside, I envy my stepfather and his Ercoupe
     
    #3 seilerts, Dec 20, 2011
  4. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    "License" is both a noun and a verb. In the noun form it is both the permission granted by the government and the certificate showing that the individual has license to fly.

    The verb tense is the granting of this permission, as in "We will license this man to fly."

    Both of these definitions are in the 1913 Websters, so they date back to at least the early days of aviation. Because of this, I am confident to say that pilots in this country are licensed to fly and also carry a license, which we call a certificate.

    Tom
     
    #4 qbee42, Dec 20, 2011
    1 person likes this.
  5. SageBrush

    SageBrush Senior Member

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    A certificate implies a competency; a license is an operational right granted by a regulatory authority.

    The interesting part of pilots and flying is that most of US grants operation rights based on certificate and does not issue a license. Don't regret it, airportkid. The license tends to only be a bit more (or a lot more, in the case of physicians) bureaucracy that is simply a money pit. I pay close to $1000 a *year* for license renewals and associated activities, even though my medical school diploma (certificate) is really the only thing that matters for licensure.
     
    #5 SageBrush, Dec 20, 2011
  6. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    I agree with the OP. I will merely comment that I question the judgement of anyone who drinks beer from a can. So the question I would submit to the next gathering of drunken pilots is, Should drinking beer from a can be grounds for revocation of certification?

    BTW & FWIW, I still have in my possession a long-since expired student pilot's certificate. Shortly after my first solo flight, at the age of 16 or 17 my step-father sold his plane (a Piper Tripacer) and that was the end of my flying lessons. I had previously passed my Private Pilot's written exam. In those days, calculators did not exist and we drew wind triangles on paper.
     
    #6 daniel, Dec 20, 2011
  7. cyclopathic

    cyclopathic Senior Member

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    well said my friend, well said.

    either way you look at it it is a heresy, beer does not belong to a can.
     
    #7 cyclopathic, Dec 20, 2011
  8. airportkid

    airportkid Will Fly For Food

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    I don't drink so when describing the beer used the handiest colloquial description of same, never thinking the container it came in mattered. But FWIW all the beer that night was in bottles from, I am told, assorted Bay Area microbreweries. If that elevates the soused aviators to new heights of respect, hoorah. But I got the impression that after the first couple of bottles any appreciation for taste, fizz and other characteristics of quality brew was wholly lost to what the alcohol was doing.
     
    #8 airportkid, Dec 20, 2011
  9. Stev0

    Stev0 Honorary Hong Kong Cavalier

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    Fortunately, the stuff they sell in the U.S. doesn't qualify as beer, so being in a can doesn't do any damage.
     
    #9 Stev0, Dec 20, 2011
  10. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    I drink maybe a beer a year on average. I don't like the effects of alcohol, but I like the taste of beer.

    So, yes, you have restored my esteem for the aviators in question.

    And to snobs who think that only room-temperature ale is "really" beer, I say "Pooh."
     
    #10 daniel, Dec 20, 2011
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