Justin S.

I’ve always wanted to fly for as long as I can remember. Since around age 5, my father would take me to McDonalds on Sunday mornings and then to Ontario airport where we would sit and watch planes all morning. Air Cal, Hughes Air West, PSA, now all out of business or merged into other carriers, are the first airliners I remember seeing. That’s all I needed to know what I wanted to do. Growing up, I had every airline book and built every model plane I could get my hands on. Airliners would fly over school and I’d tell my friends what it was, “Yeah right”, they’d say, you can’t tell from here. I knew what they were, but I never thought I’d be flying one years later.

During high school I got a job at a local FBO. Fueling everything from a Cessna 152 to a 747 only further exposed me to the aviation bug. My senior year I took my first flight lesson in a Piper Warrior. 12 hours later I soloed for the first time with all my friends and family at the airport to watch. Good landings are hard to come by when everyone is watching, and they still are today.

After graduating high school, I went to Mt. San Antonio Community College in southern California. It was a great experience and a great start to a college education. After a year there, I transferred to the University of North Dakota (UND). Going from southern California to North Dakota was somewhat of an initial culture shock, but the best decision I ever made. UND was a great place to continue flight training with some of the best equipment, and excellent faculty. More importantly, it was a great place to experience college life.

I received my commercial certificate in May of 1999, and took the summer to do an internship in Texas seeding clouds. Basically, you fly around thunderstorms all day trying to get a little more rain to help the local farmers. What an educational and eye opening experience as my first flying job. After summer I returned to school and graduated the following spring, becoming a full time certified flight instructor (CFI) for the University.

In October of 2002, I left to become a first officer at Great Lakes Airlines flying Beech 1900’s. The industry was going through tough times, and in April of 2003, I was furloughed. Luckily I was hired by Piedmont airlines two months later in June. I didn’t want to leave Great Lakes, but without a job, I didn’t really have much choice. Flying the Dash 8 at Piedmont was a great experience. It was an excellent airplane, and the first plane I’d flown with a flight attendant.

In February of 2004, I left Piedmont to work at Air Wisconsin. Based in Chicago and flying the CRJ has been a great change. I’m closer to home, closer to friends and family, and flying a great airplane.

I never really knew what to expect in airline job, but it has turned out to be great. A regular day consists of checking in and meeting your crew out at the airport. Next you go out to your plane, give it a thorough pre-flight, check the weather for your route, get your clearance and call for boarding the passengers. Once the doors closed, fire up the engines and your ready to go. Once you get to your destination, its off to the hotel, or if it’s the last day of a trip, its time to head home. Each day can be different with individual challenges, such as weather, ATC, and aircraft discrepancies, but one thing is always the same, you’ve got the best view in the world.