Have you ever wondered if you could fly an aircraft as a career?  Chances are good that you have.  The Pilot Basic Proclivity Indicator (PBPI) online examination (https://thepbpi.com)   is the assessment you may need to start you on the pilot career path.  Currently, and based on projections well into the future (2040), there is a critical shortage of pilots worldwide.   This problem helped to drive the slogan for the PBPI examination:  Open Skies – Open Opportunities.  Undoubtedly aviation is an exciting field.   As an individual with potential interest in a career as a pilot, the examination is a great way, at a very low cost,  to help determine if there is a potential match.  The PBPI examination is also a wonderful gift to anyone in good health between the ages of 18-60 with some interest in becoming a pilot.  The examination could be just the spark needed.

Why the PBPI Matters

Pilot training is a serious pursuit.  There are so many people around the world who believe becoming a pilot is outside their reach.  For example, the notion still exist, mainly in the United States, that a degree is required to become an airline pilot or a commercial pilot in general.  This notion is simply untrue.  In fact, only a rare number of airlines remain who require airline pilots to have a college degree.

In spite of the major shortage, there are thousands of people who possess the basic skills and interest to become a pilot but never take the first step to start the process.   The PBPI examination is one concept designed to bridge this gap and get interested people to take the first step.  The low-cost examination is a helpful tool that shows just how well your natural affinities potentially fit the pilot profession.

What makes the pilot shortage critical?

The worldwide pilot shortage is a problem that is being addressed in creative ways across many industries and countries.  The PBPI examination is an example of fostering a solution which will help address the problem in a small but meaningful way.    It’s a big problem.  By 2040, there will be a need for up to 500,000 pilots (of all types) across the globe.  An insufficient pilot pipeline is driving the shortage.

Becoming an air transport pilot (airline pilot), for example, will take a minimum of 1,500 hours of flying time before meeting the requirements.  In the U.S., the military, a past reliable source of pilots for the civilian sector, is also a part of this current pilot shortage.  Unfortunately, the military (collectively) is experiencing an overall shortage of pilots, even given higher retention levels for pilots than in the past.

Therefore, without a robust pipeline for pilot training, getting to the stage where a pool of pilots is available to fill openings is extremely difficult.  Consequently, more candids for pilot training must be placed in the pipeline.  Many entities are engaging in efforts to get more pilots into the pipeline, without comprising standards and safety.  The military is engaged in out-of-the-box thinking to address the issue, so are the airlines.  For many years, broader pilot training was widely unavailable by the airlines until companies like United Airlines, American Airlines, and others, created their own expanded programs for increasing pilots in the pipeline.

How the PBPI Assesses a Potential Pilot

With 30+ years of collective experience in general aviation and education at all levels, Anthony Hardin, CEO of TELA26, LLC, led the creation of the PBPI examination as part of the company’s Aviation Career Seminars.

The PBPI is an examination that is challenging and designed to determine pilot proclivity.  It does this with the use of a 2.5 hour examination comprised of 140 questions.  All the questions are crafted to record responses to the following: How you learn and communicate; How you assess you personal attributes, situational awareness, and attention to details; How you interpret your leadership and decision-making under pressures; and, four other critical factors.   There is no prior preparation or aviation experience required to take the examination.  Your candid responses and some deductive reasoning on some sections are all that’s required to produce a very useful one page assessment.

With an online examination that is available in most places in the world at an affordable price, the PBPI examination can help those interested in becoming a pilot to take the first step.  In order to get more people in the pilot pipeline, every creative but useful idea is needed.  The Pilot Basic Proclivity Indicator (PBPI) examination is part of the solution.  Open Skies – Open Opportunities to you all, now and well into the future.