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March 28, 2024
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Recently there was a bit of a flutter in some Israeli media about Turkish Airlines hiring Iranian pilots.  Given the current heated emotions in the Levant, the tension is understandable.

We contacted Turkish to ask about this.  Here is the reply we were sent:
“We have around 600 foreign pilots from up to 100 different countries.  Only a few of them are Iranian.

We are also going to roadshows to everywhere in the world to find pilots to make up for the very fast growing fleet.  Iran is one of the countries we have visited and we received many applications, but have not hired anyone yet. We believe even when we hire it wont be more than 50.

Also Iran has one of the highest ICAO scores, they are perfectly compatible pilots.  ”

The Israeli reaction is somewhat over excited.  Turkish is one of the fastest growing airlines and has to go shopping for skills around the world.  In this regard it competes with the Gulf carriers, who also are always looking for talent.  It is interesting that Turkish has found the Iranians to be good pilots.  Possibly the continuous trials of flying aircraft found in museums in other countries has made the Iranian commercial pilots more highly skilled.

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19 thoughts on “Turkish and Iranian pilots

  1. “It is interesting that Turkish has found the Iranians to be good pilots. Possibly the continuous trials of flying aircraft found in museums in other countries has made the Iranian commercial pilots more highly skilled.” Interesting communication style. So which are the other suspicious religious, ethnic groups, or races that make you sit up and wonder? Will it be interesting that Lufthansa found some Greeks to be good pilots or if Congo found white Belgian pilots to be good? Would you find it interesting that Jet Airways would find Koreans and Scots to be good pilots? Which pilot skills are based on colour, race, religion, or passport?

  2. I’m amazed you actually made the effort to contact Turkish Airlines about this. Your bigotry appears to run deep.

  3. Iran is clearly identified as a state sponsor of terror committed to the destruction of Israel. Therefore, I find the concern legitimate. It’s not about race or religion, but a clear concern about radicalism from even one pilot which might be enough to facilitate a serious attack against Israel or the US. Hari, please leave your version of political correctness at home. It has no place in commercial aviation.

  4. Scratch, Your politics in supporting Israel or anyone else is not of interest to me. Just as if you were to be on any one of many other sides questioning the bona fides of individuals. You are simply one among many people of many countries that are excessively focussed on judging people by race, religion, and colour. I take it you don’t approve of people making generalised judgements on the terrorist inclinations of people who are Jewish or Hindu or Shinto or Muslims. Or perhaps you do, in the case of people other than your kind, whatever that is. But then you would be repeating the judgemental errors of some political groups of people that many in the world, including Israelis, recall with rightful alarm. Commercial aviation is about a lot more than your petty bloodlust and your parochial racism, and this website should be mindful of that.

  5. Well Hari, I believe we all know where you are coming from politically. Thank you for making that point clear.

    To be clear myself, I do support Israel’s right to defend itself from attacks (wherever they come) and wish for the Jewish state to continue as the only free and democratic nation in the entire Middle East. Instead of trying to exterminate it, the Arab and Persian world ought be seeking to emulate it as the only beckon of light in an otherwise ridiculously disasterous portion of the globe. In less than 70 years, Israel has become the dominant regional power both militarily and economically. This with only a minuscule population of 8 million, land measuring only 8,000 square miles, and essentially no natural resources.

    Btw, I am not aware of any modern era terrorists proclaiming Judaism, Hinduidm, or Shintoism as a basis for global “jihad” against innocent populations although there seems to be no shortage of Islamic radicals executing precisely that, including Turkish funded ISIL. I’m happy to be corrected if you have examples from the other religions cited.

    All this to say, I too would have serious reservations about hiring Iranian pilots from the Islamic Republic not because of their flying skills, but due to the possibility of acquiring a well hidden radical just awaiting the opportunity to execute another 9/11 style attack. Needless to say, my family will not be traveling on Turkish Airlines anytime soon.

  6. It’s a military security concern. It has nothing to do with ethics. It’s something Israel bashers will use to satisfy their hate lust.

  7. Thus far, the only people who deliberately fly commercial jets into buildings have been muslim. Not Unitarians or Jews or Catholics. If this fact makes you uncomfortable, then reality must really get you down.

    Why do most Gulf carriers deliberately hire Anglos or Germans as pilots?

  8. Wow. This is a real sewer of bigotry. Good Stuff. Keep it coming. I can’t wait for one of you to propose creating a final solution to the problem.

  9. Not bigotry, reality. The only people seeking a “final solution” are radical Muslims in their quest to destroy the Jewish state. Hence, the concerns…

  10. Well, bigotry is a reality in this world Like yours. You are a bigot. You may come up with patchy “concerns”, and threadbare rationalisations for your simplistic visceral rages against people who you place in groups with very little forethought. But your inability to effectively separate the individual and the group in your thinking, makes you as bad or worse than the people you criticise, and that you are convinced you are the better of. Every mob carrying out every pogrom in history was populated by people like you.

  11. The fact you think certain acts have nothing to do with ethics says a lot about you. In any event, I was addressing the acts of this website not the acts of security agencies.

  12. Yes, and Sharia law is wonderful for women, children, and “infidels” alike.

    Your culture is broken, and it has nothing to do with race. Your religion keeps you stuck in the Middle Ages. Very few would care were it not for all the oil you sit on. The Middle East would be a simple extension of Africa, a place for humanitarian aid and pity but not much else. Save your philosophizing for academia and the BBC. It has no place in the real world.

    Here are the simple facts:

    Silly religion = broken culture = poor education = failing economies = regional instability = failed governments = violence justified by silly religion, and the cycle repeats…

    You don’t need a PhD to figure that out.

    Iranian pilots are but a few of the billions of victims of Islam. It’s almost impossible to separate the insane few from the many more moderates. Would I put them at the controls of my 777-300ER with 350 souls onboard? Not in a million years. Fair? Maybe not. Bigotry? Call it that if you must to make yourself feel better. I call it COMMON SENSE, and what you’re selling is PC BS!

  13. Oh Scratch! My culture? my religion?The oil I sit on? Middle East? Africa? Academia? BBC? You may have me confused with some phantom that haunts your paranoid hallucinations. You really do appear to need an enemy to rage against. Have you bitten anyone lately? I suggest avoiding all news and TV, in addition to Turkish Airlines, of course.

  14. When you can’t debate the facts, claim racism, bigotry, and hallucinations. It’s such a tired tactic. Bring some substance to your posts, and I’ll respond. Otherwise, it’s back to MSNBC and Rev. Sharpton for you (or Al Jazeera if you prefer).

  15. Love this line:”It’s almost impossible to separate the insane few from the many more moderates.” Sounds like something circa 1938 in a country near you. Let’s not bother calling your wretched bile ‘facts’. You obviously haven’t learnt enough to be able to discuss facts.

  16. 1938 heh? The ONLY difference being that I don’t propose genocide, just that we not risk placing homicidal, religious fanatics at the pointy end of 350 tonne airliners. Perhaps a minor distinction from 1938, but you can use that (also) tired comparison in lieu of facts if you’ve got nothing better. Back to the classroom professor. You’ve got some fresh students ripe for brainwashing in a few days…

  17. You haven’t proposed genocide just yet but your propensity to generalize is similar to the most moronic thugs of that era (in different parts of the world.) And I suspect you would be the one in the crowd that would be the most gung ho about it when the proposal came up. And that, to explain in too much detail to your simple nature, was the point- not whether you proposed anything of substance. So you think I am a professor? It appears that’s an insult for people of your intellectual ilk. Very good. By your account so far, I am a muslim professor who sits on a lot of oil, from the middle east, brainwashes students, likes Rev. Sharpton, and watches BBC, MSNBC, and Al Jazeera. That’s a very nice grab bag of your hate. But, unfortunately, very unlike me. By my account, you are an over-generalizing moron with little grip on ‘facts’ and doesn’t know who exactly he hates or why he hates them. You could be of any profession, class, race, religion, or creed because your kind is there everywhere, a budding cancer in every society, and impossible to completely cure. No more from me, I assure you. It’s been fun. I’ll keep a pdf of this little back and forth.

  18. My grab bag of hate has only one content… deception from people like you. Enjoy your PDF. When you wake from your fantasy dreamworld, maybe some of my words will resonate.

    In short, Islam is the problem from Morocco all the way to Indonesia and, increasingly, in the western world as well. There is no such thing as moderate Islam until all the supposed “moderates” condemn and repudiate the actions of radicals. You just don’t hear that anywhere near enough. Until then, I will paint with a broad brush because our security depends upon it. I don’t want genocide or war, quite the opposite, but I know who and what the enemy is.

    I recommend you read the writing of Ayaan Hirsi Ali for the truth about “moderate Islam.”

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