About the author : toby
What was your introduction to flying?
Back when I was a kid, we would go on trips, and I had these these baseball-like cards. They all had different planes on them; McDonnell Douglas, MD-80, and on the back of each card all the specs of each plane. I’d walk around looking at the cards, so that was my introduction to it.
Then between my freshman and sophomore year in high school, I wanted to be an engineer. And I went and visited my uncle who was in Delta technical operations. I loved everything about it, I got to fly the simulators and everything.
When I was a junior in high school, my room was kinda cool – I built a full scale model of a 737 in this loft. I mean, it had the projector, it had the pilot seat and the copilot seat. It had the throttle quadrant, the MFD, the radios. So this whole thing started with these little playing cards.
How long have you been with AVIER?
Well, my senior year for the last semester, you did what’s called a Score project. You went out and into the world and you got an internship. That’s how I met Paul, back when he started Perception Prime. So I started showing up for work and I worked there
for a while and started my flight training. Then I got in to Embry-Riddle. So I finished my flight training with Paul, and then literally 48 hours later, I was on a plane to Daytona.
I was at Embry Riddle for four and a half years. That’s where I got my instrument, commercial single, commercial-multi ratings and I got a Bachelor’s of Aeronautical Science with a minor in Meteorology.
You’re now a Certified Flight Instructor – what’s most on your mind in this new role?
You go from just worrying about what you’re doing an airplane and just worrying about what’s going on with your life… to now you become a therapist, an instructor, a life coach, you also can turn into a friend to your students. And you’re now worried about not just what’s happening with your seat, but you’re worried about the whole other human, and the awesome responsibility of teaching them to fly. So it gives you a little bit more of a respect for the aircraft and for aviation in general.
IS THERE something wish you had known as a student that You would have liked to hear?
The person next to you is overworked and underpaid. Please give them some slack. Ha!
No really, it would be: ask questions. And that’s something I’m working on as a CFI. I try to make it abundantly clear that you should never ever, ever be afraid to ask me a question.
Because at some point you’ll be overwhelmed and you’re gonna feel like you’re dumb. But you’re not. Just ask questions. Because if you feel afraid to ask the question, and you say, “Oh, yeah, I get that.:” You’re going to fall behind in your training.
There are many people who want to take advantage of a pilot license these days; what words of encouragement do you have for them?
Most people can be a private pilot. Private pilot training is first and foremost about learning about being safe. Then, you can go up with your friends. It’s an amazing thing that opens so many doors for you.
And think of the ability to see people’s faces when they fly for the first time. And just the shock and awe, I took a kid on a discovery flight the other day and he was just blown away. And that I love that.
