Profile
Airline: SkyWest (Regional Jet Service for Delta, United)
Aircraft: CRJ-200
Location: Chicago
What made you want to be an airline pilot?
I have had my head in the clouds and have wanted to be a pilot ever since taking my first airplane ride at about age 8. I took a bit of a roundabout way to get there, so here goes.
In high school, I considered a military academy to start my flying career but I did not have perfect eyesight. I instead went to college and studied economics. In my senior year (1997) I spent a lot of time at Santa Monica airport while earning my private pilots license. Although a couple of my instructors were building hours for the airlines, at the time I decided I would rather earn a living in a business career and fly for fun on the weekends. The technology boom was just getting under way and I took a job as a software consultant. I flew most weekends my first year out of college. My third flight after getting my private, I flew a couple friends in a Cessna 172 to the Las Vegas McCarran Class B airport (I developed good judgment later in my flying career). Because of coastal fog, we were not able to return to Santa Monica for three days. We ended up in a cheap motel in the high desert waiting for the clouds and visibility to improve in the LA basin. This trip convinced me to get my instrument rating.
As I started to work more and more, I ended up flying less and less. Although I finally had a bit of income and the safety of an instrument rating, I didn’t feel like a very safe pilot only flying once a month. I would try to go up with a safety pilot every few months to stay current. As time wore on, I stopped flying altogether. However, flying stayed a passion. Over the next few years I worked for a few different companies. I went back to school and got my MBA. I started a company after business school and sold my share in it one year later. I planned on starting a second company and began to write the business plan. I paused for a bit and asked myself, "If I could do anything, what would it be?" Business, although I enjoyed it, felt a lot like I was just going through the motions.
I began to research flight schools. At first I was drawn to the slicker marketing presentations of some of the big schools. Then I decided that my ultimate goal was to work for an airline, so I decided to instead focus my search on what airlines wanted and work backwards. I quickly found out how valuable multi-engine time was to regional airlines. So, I decided that I wanted to instruct at a school where I would build the most multi-engine time. And knowing that schools favor hiring instructors from the students they trained, I looked at schools with lots of multi-engine aircraft. Next I wanted to make sure that I could budget exactly the cost, and attend a school that did not have a reputation for costing 30% or 100% more than the original quote. ATP fit the bill in all respects. After several weeks of research, what seemed like an overwhelming choice all of a sudden seemed very obvious.
Even before I began flight training, I wanted to work for SkyWest Airlines. Not because I knew much about them—I’d taken them as a passenger in the past and I really liked their bases. I grew up in Southern California and they seemed to be on the radio everywhere whenever I was buzzing around San Diego, Santa Barbara or up into Northern California.
I started the 90 day Airline Career Pilot Program in Riverside in July 2005. My instructor was outstanding. He went above and beyond during each ground school lesson. Because I already had my instrument rating—I was able to use the flight time that was intended for my instrument to fly up to Seattle and back with my instructor. Once I started my cross-country flights I was able to fly to Florida and back. So, I can say during my program that I overflew Canada, Mexico, the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean (if only for a short time for each). I finished the program in just under 90 days in October 2005.
I started as a flight instructor with ATP in Jacksonville, Florida on Halloween Day 2005. After a few weeks, I was assigned to the Atlanta location. It was great, because I was able to stay busy over the winter. We were one of (at the time) three locations to teach flight instructors. I enjoyed that because every couple weeks I had a few new advanced students. I was a bit far from my friends in Southern California, so when the Las Vegas location opened up, I decided to transfer (February 2006). Vegas was great and I got to work with great people. Vegas also has a reputation for staying extremely busy.
When I first started instructing, SkyWest was not hiring pilots. No one really knew when they would start hiring again. I had opportunities to interview with several airlines that ATP has partnerships with that required fewer hours than SkyWest Airlines, but I stayed focused on SkyWest. This strategy could have backfired as I was giving up seniority at other airlines—most people will tell you to take the first airline job you can get. I took a chance and so far it has worked out. Also, the more I learned about SkyWest the more I wanted to work there. They had never furloughed pilots and had the same management team in place for 35 years! They had a pretty good track record of growth. Luckily as I passed 850 hours SkyWest started hiring at a very fast pace. I received my interview in August 2006 after passing 1000 total time and I had about 650 multi. ATP knew several people in charge of hiring at SkyWest. I received several personal recommendations which helped immensely. During the technical portion of my SkyWest interview, the captain who was interviewing me made a point of telling me how much he loved the airline style way ATP trains and how all the ATP alums seemed to get through the sim without any extra sessions.
I was hired into the CRJ and started ground school in late August. I’ll go through that in a separate message. I finished my sim and aircraft checkride the second week in October. I finished Initial Operating Experience the second week in November. Despite all my West Coast leanings, I decided to bid for our Chicago base because it is most junior. If I can make it through winter I think that will pay off. I have been able hold a line for December, my first month I got to bid, which will be great for my quality of life.
I look forward to meeting you on the Pilot Career Coach forums and answering any questions you may have about what it's like to be an airline pilot.
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.
