Profile
Occupation: First Officer
Airline: Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA)
Aircraft: CRJ-200
Location: Atlanta, GA
What made you want to be an airline pilot?
While I now know that being an airline pilot is what I was always meant to be, my story, unlike many, doesn’t begin in the womb. My parents were both in the medical field, and I knew following high school that I didn’t want to be a doctor. In Atlanta since 1994, I began my four years in college at the University of Georgia as a "Business-Undecided" major. In other words, like many college freshman, I didn’t have the first clue what I wanted to do, but business seemed like a good place to start. It wasn’t until the end of my sophomore year—following a semester of economics, accounting, legal studies, and finance, to be exact—that I realized that business was not for me.
I always had an interest in commercial aviation, but I never really considered it a career option until it was casually mentioned to me at a family reunion by my aunt, a career advisor, who, in response to my mother’s pleading, was desperately trying to help me through my mid-college "what do I want to do for a living" phase. Sparking my interest, I began to look into the life of an airline pilot. After extensive research along with talking with the few pilots I eventually came across, I promptly switched my major to something I enjoyed and spent my last years in college deciding how to make my newfound aviation dream a reality.
Probably the hardest thing about starting a career in aviation is just that—starting it. With the myriad of flight training options out there, I found that deciding on a flight school was more challenging than deciding on a college ever was. The good part was that I already had a bachelor’s degree out of the way. While not required to be an airline pilot, a four-year degree, regardless of what it’s in, can be helpful for a number of reasons. My goal now was to find the quickest and most cost effective way to get to the airlines. Fortunately, ATP offered me just that.
In less than a year, I went from zero time to the right seat of a jet. This took a tremendous amount of work, of course. Flight training proved to be more demanding in some aspects than any portion of college ever was. I quickly learned, however, that, throughout the entire process, the most important thing was attitude. You have to want it. The rest just takes time and hard work. What you’ll find in the end is a career that is still one of the most rewarding out there. What helps is knowing where to start, and finding a way to talk to those who have experienced it is the best place to do just that. Good luck!
Bob
Bob is based in Newark (EWR) for ExpressJet. They also have bases in, Houston (IAH), and Cleveland (CLE).
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 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), and Cleveland (CLE).
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 Newark (EWR) for ExpressJet. They also have bases in Houston (IAH), and Cleveland (CLE).
Chris
Chris is based in Newark (EWR) for Continental. They also have bases in Houston (IAH) and Cleveland (CLE)
JJ
JJ is based in LAX with SkyWest. They also have bases and domiciles in COS, DEN, FAT, PDX, PSP, SAN, SBA, SBP, SMF, SLC, ORD, SFO, TUS, ATL, and MKE
Ken
Ken is based in Columbus (CMH) with Republic. They also have bases in Indianapolis (IND) Pittsburgh (PIT), Washington DC (DCA), and Philadelphia (PHL).
Corporate Dan
Dan is based in Teterboro, New Jersey (KTEB) for Hertz Corporate Aviation
Roger
Roger is based in Houston (IAH) for ExpressJet. They also have bases in Newark (EWR), and Cleveland (CLE).
Dan
Comair has bases in New York (JFK) and Cincinatti (CVG).
Mitch
Mitch is in training for Compass Airlines. Compass Airlines is based in Chantilly, VA
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.
