Learning to Fly

[TeePee]

Holy Necropost!

But thank you for the trip down memory lane. This was, in every respect, a love story. I didn't know much back then. Certainly all the information about US/UK licenses is incorrect now, since the UK system has completely changed. I even said I wasn't going to go commercial. Well, I did. Something of a pivotal moment, captured by the Internet forever. But reading this thread has left me looking back on the last twelve years, with pride, certainly, but also relief that some of the chances I took paid off.

Let's see... I went back to the US in 2006 with about $40k in savings, which was about 20kGBP at the exchange rate then. I'd signed up for a J1 visa program with a school on the East Coast of FL, the idea being that I'd be able to get commercial and flight instructor ratings, and work there for two years. The school was a joke, and didn't provide nearly the quality of training I'd had at Crystal River, and their accounting was.... Unfortunate. After six month of excuse, by which point I was supposed to be a CFI, I left and finished at another school, before getting a job as an instructor at a third. I also met a nice American girl, and was married in 2008. Together, we moved to Oregon, and I worked at a flight school there.

The recession hit both Oregon and Aviation hard, but my next career step was to a freight company based in Seattle in 2010. For them, I flew Night Checks and Library books in a puddle jumper, across mountain ranges in winter storms, and Radioactive materials for PET scans. That lasted six months before they started their descent in to bankruptcy. It took me 17 days to find another job with another freight company, this time flying UPS packages. Kind of a low point here, with Divorce, and living in my car and such. But I also met some lifelong friends, and friends are important in life and aviation.

The entry level jobs were always a means to an end. Aviation is a career where mobility is important, and I kept the resume out there and current, and somehow got a huge break. An interview with an Emergency Medical company, where I impressed a crabby old guy with my fresh-from-freight flying, and leveraged my English Accent with the HR ladies, got me a huge break. Real career job money and a move to New Mexico to fly King Air's. This job lasted about three years, but aviation is always in transit, and unfortunately a huge slew of management changes dragged this company from being industry-leading in to a joke. I left, while filing a report to the FAA over safety practices. Simultaneously the best employer I've had, and the worst.

Next step was in to a LearJet. Still Medevac, but much longer distances, flying in to Mexico and Canada, and anywhere else you can get by sitting doing nothing for four hours at a time. The Jet was shiny, and the performance was amazing, but there was no challenge to it. I didn't fit in the cockpit, and it just wasn't fun.

But remember those friends from 'The Order of the Sleepless Knights'? One of them was having fun flying King Airs doing all kinds of different government projects, and he wanted my resume. So in the last year, I've skimmed the tree tops of the East Coast, dropping Rabies Vaccine, saved an endangered species, and now I'm fighting forest fires back in Oregon. It's an adventure. I can't wait to see what's next!

So that's what this thread was. A kid with a dream, who shared it. He had no idea where the next twelve years of his life would go, how difficult they would be, or how ultimately rewarding.. I'm now a US citizen, and make a better living flying airplanes than I ever would have in my IT Helpdesk life.

So what should this thread be? Motivation. I may have been dumb, and I might still be. But I took a risk and went on an adventure and it never stopped. It turns out it was life the whole time. So if you're in your early 20's, reading this, and wondering why an old man is still here whining about a vacation he took 12 years ago, it's time to start planning your adventure. Share it with us.

[TeePee]

We will be having a hexus flying meetup then soon!

Now this is a great idea!

I've flown with TheAnimus, some years ago. He's an excellent pilot, and taught me a thing or two about flying in the UK. If you can make this work, do it! If it lines up with one of my trips back to the UK, count me in!

[Jonatron]

The important question I've got is: Do you giggle when women ask for MATZ Penetration on the radio?

[TheAnimus]

Now this is a great idea!

I've flown with TheAnimus, some years ago. He's an excellent pilot, and taught me a thing or two about flying in the UK. If you can make this work, do it! If it lines up with one of my trips back to the UK, count me in!

I'm blushing!

I've got a share in an n-reg 172 if you could bare going so slowly, she is IFR rated, but sadly I am still not. (Next year, always next year...)

[directhex]

it must have been a pilot that thought up the idea of a Volcanic ash forecast and dispersion chart...

Presumably a follow-up to Speedbird 9

[TeePee]

I'm blushing!

I've got a share in an n-reg 172 if you could bare going so slowly, she is IFR rated, but sadly I am still not. (Next year, always next year...)

I'll take low and slow over high and fast any day!

[martinbrown087]

christ, that cant be cheap. did loads of flying in the air cadets, not really that special unless you pratting around to be honest.

[[GSV]Trig]

Flying in cadets, I remember those days, Chipmunks suck, anything that you have to dive to be able to do a loop just doesnt cut it..