How I Went From Zero Self-Esteem and Zero Flight Time - to a 35 Year Flying Career!

Ok, the zero self-esteem thing is a bit of an exaggeration but, as a typical teenager, not by much!

My father’s words of encouragement when I told him I wanted to be a pilot were, “Forget it, get a real job, be a carpenter!”

There were a few times during my career, especially when, as a new-hire pilot/flight engineer at TWA, I was hacking my way through the weight and balance part of the final Flight Engineer exam, that the carpenter job looked pretty good!

My self-esteem got another jolt when I was paired up in the simulator (the box!) part of the Flight Engineer training with another new-hire pilot, a sharp guy but who goofed off during ground school, partying his way through the course.

But when we got to the simulator part of the training, my partners after hour shenanigans caught up with him big time and he was struggling.

This resulted in the simulator boss sending a flight engineer check pilot in to evaluate his performance.

Since TWA paired two pilots up in each sim session, I was sitting in the jump seat, watching the check guy take a hard look at my partner, flailing miserably through his session while I sweated, thinking I was also under the gun.

The following day it was just me in the box!

Self-esteem intact, it was the greatest career a guy could have for the next 26 years!

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?