FlyCRJ.com

OK, so you want to become a pilot and maybe even have a career in flying, but where do you start?

It’s confusing, but I’m going to tell you how I did it.

When I was eight years old, my grandfather took me up in his Piper Cub. I think it was from that day forward that I knew I wanted to fly but at the time I didn’t know I wanted to fly, I just knew that I was fascinated with airplanes. It was a kid thing!

Then, as I got older, swim team and eventually socializing started to take priority over my “childish” admiration of flying. It wasn’t till I was in junior high, running around with the wrong crowd, when my mom gave me a flying lesson for my birthday till I realize that flying airplanes was what I wanted to do. You see, at the time she didn’t know how to deal with my “wrong crowd” problem, she just knew that she had to try something—hence the flying lesson.

I still remember my flight instructor’s name, David Lampkins. Nice guy. Patient. Interested in me. Willing to work with me at all hours of the day to get me into flying.

I was only 15 at the time, so even though I could take flying lessons, I couldn’t solo an airplane much less get my Private Pilot Certificate.

Interestly, the flight lessons provided the diversion that I needed though. I dumped the “friends” and starting working to pay for my flight lessons. Every time I got a paycheck, it would pay for about an hour of flying.

So how did I start?

Well, when I decided to start flying and working towards my Private Pilot Certificate, I bought a Cessna Private Pilot kit much like ”The Complete Private Kit“ that ASA creates now. It had everything I needed to get started, to get studying, and to get flying. If it had been available though at the time I was doing my Private Pilot training, I would have bought the Gleim Private Pilot Kit with Software because it makes it so much easier to study when you have all the information you need about flying on your computer.

Now jumping ahead a bit, I eventually soloed an airplane on my 16th birthday. Ironically, I soloed before I got my driver’s license and to this day it is still one of the highlights of my life.

Jump forward to high school.

It’s time to start figuring out what I want to do with the rest of my life.

I continued to fly through high school. I worked for my dad on the weekends when I didn’t have a swim meet. Also, I would fly before school when I didn’t have swim practice. It kept me focused.

Then one day, while sitting in the counselor’s office, I noticed a pamphlet for the Air Force Academy. At the time I had no idea that there was such a thing. No one had ever told me. But, I knew that that was what I wanted to do. Unfortunately, it wasn’t in my cards, so to speak. At the time I thought that by signing up for advanced placement (AP) classes, that it would make me more attractive in the Academy’s eyes. It wasn’t. It only hurt my grade point average (GPA) which made me look bad in the Academy’s eyes and therefore I wasn’t selected. It didn’t help that my Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores were only average.

So I went off to Texas A&M in College Station, Texas, and joined the Corps of Cadets hoping to get into the Air Force that way. Again, through a serious of missteps it didn’t happen. I picked the wrong major, Aerospace Engineering, which I was adequately unprepared for. I also “enjoyed” the university lifestyle too much. A little too much partying and too little studying. And when it came to taking the Air Force Officer Qualify Test (AFOQT) to see if I could get a pilot slot, I always came up short. They said that I could have a navigator slot but not a pilot slot.

At this point, here are a few things that I learned from my experiences and would do over if I could:

1. If your SAT scores aren’t good, then get tutoring.
2. Start preparing for your SAT in your freshman year.
3. Learn to balance your social life, you academic life, and sport life.
4. Don’t take AP classes unless you know you can get an “A” in the course. In my opinion, you are safer to just take ordinary classes and get an “A” instead of taking AP classes and getting a “B.”
5. Once you are in college or university, get your degree first and get it in something other than aviation management. I recommend marketing or business.
6. Don’t go to a university that offers a combined bachelor’s degree and aviation program. They are way too expensive. You are better off just going to a fixed-based operator (FBO) after you get your degree. It will save you thousands of dollars.
7. If you do have your heart set on flying in the military, look at all the branches of the military and talk to the recruiters. If you don’t like what the recruiter says, then find a different recruiter. Not all recruiters are created equal.
8. If you don’t initially get a pilot slot in the military, or even a navigator slot, consider either enlisting or joining the officer’s corps in some other job. It is sometimes easier to move laterally within the military instead of going straight into a pilot slot.
9. Finally, never ever give up!

With that said, it was another 15 years before I would realized my dream of flying. After I completed an enlistment in the Air Force and another six years as a defense contractor, the opportunity to fly, this time for a living, presented itself. All of a sudden the path was clear and I knew what I had to do. I quit my defense contractor job and went to FlightSafety Academy. (My GI Bill paid for most of it.) And I believe now that there was a reason for me not going to the Air Force Academy and not going directly in the Air Force as a pilot. I believe that I was expected to experience other things before I was to become a pilot.

So, are you wanting to become a pilot?

Are you finding it difficult to get into aviation?

Does it feel everything  is working against you?

Maybe it is just not your time right now but if you stay focused and remember what you really want, picture yourself sitting in the left seat piloting an airplane, eventually you will become a pilot. Like I said earlier, never give up!

In the meantime, get a copy of Gleim Private Pilot Written Exam Guide or ASA Private Pilot Test Prep Book. They aren’t expensive and they will keep you motivated. The rest will fall into place if you take these first steps.

To Your Flying Success,

Jeffrey