The Dreams Alive- Remind Yourself
Okay, I don't voice too many opinions, but I can say that I feel the pain. I am 20 years old now and have been fairly succesful so far, but that's not to say that I haven't had my own ups and downs in the aviation world. I started my flight training when I was 16 and got through my Commercial Multi Engine Instrument while I was still in High School. That was tough duty going through part 61 at the local flight school, but I would often go out and take a flight alone, without any sylabus or lesson sheet to speak of, and go out exploring. Exercising the privlidges of my certifates, taking friends for meals in distant cities, conquering emergencies, different types of airplanes, and getting to know aviation on every level I could experience it. The greatest thing about this business is the people that are in it, sure there are some 'bad apples', and others who just want to 'get ahead', but for the most part the aviation community is built out of the most intelligent, friendly and savvy people in the world. I can't forget that all of my big breaks (a corporate job flying a Saratoga when I was 18, a co-pilot job on a Citation) came because I showed interest and persistence to the people who 'made things happen'. When I went to a Part 141 flight school in Florida (one that shall remain nameless) as part of my first college, I felt a little out of place amongst the paperwork and by-the-book flying taught to the students who only saw airliner cockpits. I felt cheated by the system when I saw that relatively inexperienced and uninterested people my age were being advanced into my dream career because they showed an ability to brown nose and throw money at their flight school. I was also told coming into that program, that I would wash out and fail to meet the expectations of part 141 because I had come from the 'outside'. Contrary to their belief, I came into their program a freshman in college, accomplished their hardest rating (CFI) and finished their CFII program in the fastest time of any student EVER. However, even with this training record, I wasn't hired for a CFI slot at the flight school because I 'wasn't from the program, and had not yet spent enough money with the program'. I tried to keep myself sane by renting and occasionally going out on an IFR cross country, grab lunch or just do some maneuvers. But the feeling that this gave me was one of disgust and helplessness as I saw people with less than 200 hours in 172s being hired to TEACH flying as a CFI, in a year those same people would be 'flying the line' for a major US regional airline. Because of money issues, I had to leave that college and return home where tuition was cheaper. Immidiately after making some new contacts at home, I was approached to come 'on-board' as a copilot in a Citation II. On our first trip, we flew more than 30 hours and criss crossed the United States, even landing at LAX and SFO. But where did my self-justification come from in having gone to that part 141 school? It was the friends I made, and the flying experiences I can call on now, because of them. My father, a senior 767 captain at UAL, told me when I started down this path, that "- this business is cyclical, and you'll feel on top of the world one minute and totally disheartened the next- but remember that you love and enjoy flying, look for the challenge and excitement of each new flight, and remember the attitude and the faith others have showed in you, and give that same attitude back to aviaiton."
