Step on the Ball: My Adventures in Aviation

Good afternoon! It sure looks as if I haven’t kept up my end of the bargain keeping this sucker up-to-date. It’s easier said than done, that’s for sure. I have new respect for all the high schoolers out there who can fill page upon page of “stuff” on their blogs. It’s not easy for me to come up with that much to say (I know some of you are probably surprised to hear that, but alas, it’s true).
Well, today is one of my two days off per week from instructing–and that means today is a school day. I’m in school from 8:15 AM until 3:35 PM on Tuesdays, and 8:15AM-9:50PM (yeah, that’s right) on Thursdays. It’s kind of rough to keep plugging along, but if I can just get through this semester, take some classes in the summer, and then go all-out next fall, I stand to graduate in December with a shiny BBA in Economics.

How’s the flying going, you may be wondering? (Or you may not, I don’t know)

Well, it’s not been too bad–in fact, it’s been pretty busy, which is a good thing. I’m up to 997.4 hours of total time–GREAT! I’ve had a few Cirrus trips and some really steady students which has helped me out tremendously in the past month. The downside to my time right now is my multiengine–all 5.6 hours of it, and no certificate or MEI. I plan to change that though–a friend of mine at USA recommended his AME (who also happens to be a very experienced MEI), so I hope to get all the multiengine stuff knocked out in the early part of the summer. If, by some miracle, the airlines are still hiring at their ridiculously low minimums (which are getting lower as we speak even still!) by the time I graduate in December, I should be looking in pretty good shape.

Speaking of graduation and hitting the “magic numbers” in the old Pilot Log, I’m finding it really hard to stay motivated in school while flying all the time, studying for the ATP written, going over interview gouge, and all that other prep stuff.

Oh well. Things seem to be on a roll now. I feel confident in the next half year I can squeeze another 300 hours in (hopefully with some multi time thrown in there somewhere or another) and end up in good shape.

Well, here I am! This is my first official foray into the world of “blogging” (post-initial surge of the popularity of blogging, that is). As I divide my time just about equally between school and my office at the airport, I figured it’d be appropriate to start out on Flyblog. I’ve still not even as much as visited myspace.com, and I’m kind of proud of that; it seems to be getting people into trouble as of late. Ah, well. I’m full of flying stories, though, so you’ll get lots of those.

For those of you who don’t already “know” me, my name’s Jonathan. I’m a full-time college senior majoring in the non-aviation field of Economics, and I’m a CFI at my local airport. I’ve amassed about 350 hours or so of dual given and I’ve loved every single one of my flying hours (some more than others). I honestly haven’t a clue how much I’ll update this thing, but I’m going to try my best. Like so many people on this site and lurking out there in cyberspace, my ultimate dream is to be an airline pilot. I’ve always wanted to do it and it’s looking more possible by the day. I know the pay’s not what it used to be and neither is the glamour (let’s face it, those cool leather jackets just don’t do what they used to), but honestly that’s not why I’m in it. I love flying, and I love the logistics of moving people, not humans, and so the airlines are where I want to go.

I hope some of my airline-career-aspiring students will read this blog, as will any strangers that are thinking about it. I decided to write this blog to share my flying experiences with the world, and to provide reassurance and support to any self-doubters. I know a great deal of you are probably worried about “making it” as an aviator. Trust me–if I can do it, you can do it. I constantly worry about the Part 121 carrier job market in the next two years, scraping together enough multi time to get my application in the door, and cramming for the ATP written. I know that a lot of you have probably heard some very negative things said about the aviation industry, flying for a job, and just airline flying in general. I know firsthand how discouraging that talk can be–I was really affected by it (and a really, really flat learning plateau I hit during training for my commercial certificate), for sure, and just about took another path. It took the reassurance of several different professional pilots about how WONDERFUL they found the job to really get me going again. I’m eternally grateful to them, and I hope I can provide a little inspiration to anyone who may need it. I’m always available for an e-mail with any questions or comments; go easy on me, though, I’m new at this!