| Airline experience: |
no |
| Corporate or fractional experience: |
no |
| Cargo experience: |
yes |
| Military, government, or law enforcement experience: |
no |
| Mentor profile: |
I am currently flying a twin Cessna in cancelled check delivery for Lindsay Aviation, a contracted cargo company for the Federal Reserve Bank. I get about 16 ME hours per week, have a regular schedule, and get three days off a week on the weekend. I did all my flight training at FBOs and a little at a community college flight program in SE Michigan. Although I\'d always looked up at planes as early as I can remember, kept a journal on types of jets I saw on approach to Metro when I was 10, and did several reports on Amelia Earhart throughout my school years, I did not have any idea about how people learned to fly, and I guess I didn\'t think girls did that sort of thing anyway. It took time for me to recognize these ideas as being the fiction they really are. Once I got my private pilot license, all gates fell, and I\'ve never stopped in pursuing my goal to be a captain. Actually, since I fly single pilot, I am already a 135 captain.
|
| Favorite thing about flying: |
| The excitement never ends. There\'s always more to learn. Self-discipline pays off. Self-knowledge and self-respect are enhanced. And doesn\'t the earth and sky look beautiful from up here today! |
| Disadvatages of being a pilot: |
Family time is often sacrificed in order to achieve hours or work experience.
|
| What you would have done different: |
| I would would have been born on an airport. |
| Advice to aspiring pilots: |
| If you ever hear yourself saying \"I don\'t think I can\", replace that with \"Of course I can. What do I need to do to be able to do it?\" Make a list, then do those things, no matter how long they take. If you need help making the list, ask someone who is ahead of you on the road. |
| Problems encounterd along the way: |
Mostly financial stress made the process take longer than I\'d hoped. Also, 9/11 came along just as I finished my instrument training, and my professional pilot dreams seemed more impossible for a time. The minimum number of hours increased for some jobs, and furloughed pilots threatened to glut the flight instructing market just as I was getting to flight instructor, but that never really came to fruition.
|
