My run-ins with aviation
The airline industry is a tough one. We all know it. We love it (it takes us to exotic places) and we hate it (it loses our patience and our luggage).
The industry is also one of those that people (make it some people) just love. I mean really, love. Like the car industry. Or the movie industry.
I count myself as one of those that just loves the aviation and in turn the airline industry. It is the flying. There’s something so magical about it [note: flying in any plane is great, but flying in a small plane, behind the controls is amazing]. In fact, until I was 16 I was sure I would be a professional pilot.
Other than flying around the western hemisphere as a child, my first real experience with aviation took place at JYO where I refueled planes, parked them, ran the register, answered the phone, etc for a small FBO. It was the best. [note: while here, Vern, a mustachioed, crusty pilot advised me to make aviation a hobby of passion, not a career. It would be the only way to preserve the thrill of flying, he said. btw, he had a tailwheel aircraft, though not as sporty as this one]
Then a friend of mine there got me working at IAD at one of the FBOs there. This was 10x better as now I was working with jets: Citations, Falcons, Hawkers, Gulfstreams, 737 business jets and everything in between (even a 747-SP). I was in heaven. [note: it was during this time that while talking with the other pilots that I decided not to pursue flying as a career. Too many were not married or divorced. That was just not an option for me. With that said, I have since learned that many good men not only marry but stay married. All careers will be demanding - family and fidelity are choices made everyday not a career choice.]
My last real experience in the aviation world was my internship at JetBlue. I worked in their customer feedback department which gave me access to stories about people - some really fantastic stories. It also gave me visibility into all the operations of the business; I love the complexity of the logistics. It fascinates me.
While I was there I realized that the industry was fundamentally a low-margin one and thus a difficult place to place myself in long-term. [plus, my ADD nature does not do well with all the regulation the airlines have and need]
At this point, with no money to make aviation a hobby (flight time is well over $100 an hour), I am left to read Today in the Sky and post about business ideas (perhaps the only bigger hobby than aviation) for the airlines.
