Profile
Occupation: Commercial Pilot
Airline: American Eagle
Aircraft: Embraer Regional Jet
Location: Chicago, IL
Interests: Percussion Instruments, Golf, Motorcycles
What made you want to be an airline pilot?
At 39 years old aviation is a career change for me. My college degree (1990) is in Classical Music - Percussion with a dual in Music Management. I worked for a small booking agency that booked the tours of Billy Joel, Metallica, Joe Cocker, Ted Nugent and others. 4 or 5 years of 10 hour days spent sitting at a computer, answering phones, sending faxes, photocopying contracts, etc.—fun as it was, I realized I was on the wrong side of the desk. Since then I’ve tried to make my living as a musician and had moderate success. Gigs ranging from classical music to cover bands on the Jersey shore. I’ve lived in Manhattan, Paris, Ireland, New Orleans but mostly in New Jersey. To help augment my income over the years I’ve done bartending, worked in a wine shop, ran a cigar shop, substitute school teacher, and worked in a group home for mentally ill adults. All these jobs with the same goal: whatever it takes to have a flexible enough schedule to say yes to a gig anytime the phone rang.
So aviation. I had always said that I would like to learn how to fly a plane one day. I would watch the Discovery Wings channel all the time and eat my lunch in the parking lot of the local airport whenever possible just to see what I could see. I finally downloaded one of those coupons from Be a Pilot.com and took that $49 introductory flight. That day changed my life. It was summer 2003. It took me one year and $10,000 to get my private and the whole time all I could think was man I can definitely see myself doing this for a living. It is the only thing that has captured my attention, passion, excitement, and interest as much or even more so than music.
I’m a fairly pragmatic person and research things like crazy. I spent months getting literature from all the flight schools around and made a master comparative list with positives and negatives about each one of them. Actually, I didn’t learn about ATP until the very end of my decision making process. For my personal circumstances they hands down blew away any other flight school I compared them to. 12 months to get my private at the local FBO in NJ. I started with ATP in November 2004. I was hired by American Eagle in October 2005. That’s 11 months and unbelievable to me. I did my training at the Jacksonville location, was hired and instructed at the Atlanta location. I left ATP with exactly 600 hours and 426 of those were multi engine.
I’ve never been to California before in my life but now here I am typing this in my apartment in Manhattan Beach, CA a 10 minute drive to the employee parking lot at LAX. I fly the Saab 340B+ turboprop which seats 35. I love what I do and wouldn’t change a thing about it or the process it took to get here. Have the courage to follow your bliss. I will do my best to answer your questions candidly and I hope it is all helpful when you make the decisions that are best for you.
Bob
Bob is based in Ontario (ONT) for ExpressJet. They also have bases in Houston (IAH), Newark (EWR), Cleveland (CLE), San Antonio (SAT), and Los Angeles (LAX).
Josie
Josie is Based in Dayton (DAY) with PSA. They also have bases in Knoxville (TYS) and Charlotte (CLT).
Clint
Clint is based in Milwaukee, WI. SkyWest also has bases and domiciles in COS, DEN, FAT, MRY, PDX, PSP, SAN, SBA, SBP, SMF, SLC, LAX, SFO, TUS, and ATL.
Michael
Michael is based in Chicago (ORD), with Eagle. They also have bases in Dallas (DFW), Los Angeles (LAX), New York (LGA) and Boston (BOS), Miami (MIA), and San Juan (SJD).
Bobby
Bobby is based in Memphis (MEM) with Pinnacle. They also have bases in Atlanta (ATL), Detroit (DTW) and Minneapolis (MSP).
John
John is Based in Charlotte, NC (CLT) with PSA. They also have bases in Knoxville (TYS) and Dayton (DAY).
Adam
Adam is based in Newark (EWR) for ExpressJet. They also have bases in Houston (IAH), Cleveland (CLE), Ontario (ONT), San Antonio (SAT), and Los Angeles (LAX)
Kevin
Kevin is based in Chicago (ORD), with Eagle. They also have bases in Dallas (DFW), Los Angeles (LAX), New York (LGA) and Boston (BOS), Miami (MIA), and San Juan (SJD).
Jeremy
Jeremy is based in Ontario (ONT) for ExpressJet. They also have bases in Houston (IAH), Newark (EWR), Cleveland (CLE), San Antonio (SAT), and Los Angeles (LAX).
Chris
Chris is based in Newark (EWR) for Continental. They also have bases in Houston (IAH) and Cleveland (CLE)
JJ
JJ is based in ORD with SkyWest. They also have bases and domiciles in COS, DEN, FAT, MRY, PDX, PSP, SAN, SBA, SBP, SMF, SLC, LAX, SFO, TUS, ATL, and MKE
Ken
Ken is based in Denver (DEN) with Republic. They also have bases in Columbus (CMH), Indianapolis (IND), Pittsburgh (PIT), and Washington DC.
Corporate Dan
Roger
Roger is based in Houston (IAH) for ExpressJet. They also have bases in Newark (EWR), Cleveland (CLE), Ontario (ONT), San Antonio (SAT), and Los Angeles (LAX).
Dan
Comair has bases in New York (JFK) and Cincinatti (CVG).
Mitch
Mitch is based in Newark (EWR) for ExpressJet. They also have bases in Houston (IAH), Cleveland (CLE), Ontario (ONT), San Antonio (SAT), and Los Angeles (LAX)
Jerry
Jerry is based in New York (JFK) with Comair. They also have a base in Cincinatti (CVG).
Melvin
Melvin is based in Los Angeles (LAX) with Eagle. They also have bases in Dallas (DFW), Chicago (ORD), New York (LGA) and Boston (BOS), Miami (MIA), and San Juan (SJD).
Todd
Todd is based in Denver (DEN) with SkyWest. They also have bases and domiciles in COS, FAT, MRY, PDX, PSP, SAN, SBA, SBP, SMF, SLC, LAX, SFO, TUS, MKE, and ATL
Matt
Matt is based in Altanta (ATL) with ASA.
