Andy Neill
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2001
- Posts
- 2,293
I seem to have backed into it. As a kid, I won an airplane ride (V tailed Bonanza) and a helicopter ride (Bell 47). I even had my picture in the local paper captioned "Future Pilot?". How ridiculous, I thought. I'm going to be an architect.
When I decided to join the Army after a year as an architecture major (so military service wouldn't interrupt my studies at a later date), I couldn't get the jobs I wanted (draftsman, photographer, survey) but I could get Warrant Officer Flight Training for helicopters. I thought why not (I had grown up with my father saying "If only I had learned to fly" and I didn't want that as my lament the rest of my life.)
When I had the chance to get out a couple of years later, I decided to stay in (having too much fun) and stayed in for 25 years. When I took a commission, I tried to do the adult thing and develop my ground career along with my aviation career, but the Army kept throwing me back in the cockpit.
When I retired, I considered what to do and didn't want to have my livlihood depending on how well I could see or hear. I went to grad school to become an industrial engineer. But I couldn't get a job in the filed so I decided to join SkyWest as a classroom instructor. While there, I had the chance to get line qualified and did.
So while I have enjoyed my flying and have done some things I never imagined I would have done, it was not my first choice. I'm glad things have turned out the way they did.
When I decided to join the Army after a year as an architecture major (so military service wouldn't interrupt my studies at a later date), I couldn't get the jobs I wanted (draftsman, photographer, survey) but I could get Warrant Officer Flight Training for helicopters. I thought why not (I had grown up with my father saying "If only I had learned to fly" and I didn't want that as my lament the rest of my life.)
When I had the chance to get out a couple of years later, I decided to stay in (having too much fun) and stayed in for 25 years. When I took a commission, I tried to do the adult thing and develop my ground career along with my aviation career, but the Army kept throwing me back in the cockpit.
When I retired, I considered what to do and didn't want to have my livlihood depending on how well I could see or hear. I went to grad school to become an industrial engineer. But I couldn't get a job in the filed so I decided to join SkyWest as a classroom instructor. While there, I had the chance to get line qualified and did.
So while I have enjoyed my flying and have done some things I never imagined I would have done, it was not my first choice. I'm glad things have turned out the way they did.