Day One and Two

Day One

I'm excited and terrified at the same time. I'm making such a big change from the hospitality industry to entering the aviation world to become a pilot. As I sat in classroom D, I started meeting people who are in my class from all walks of life. Some are in similar positions as I; others are just out of High-school; some are even from overseas such as India, and South America.

Of my classmates a few have their private pilot's license and others like me, have zero hours. The one thing we all have in common is we have a different story of why we want to be here.

Today was a particularly easy day, mostly making sure the paper work was correct and or we are approved to fly based on the country we are from. I find particularly interesting the story of a woman coming from India who was a flight attendant for Kingfisher Air (India) and is now here in the U.S. for the first time to earn her wings. India to Sanford, Florida? No offense to Sanford but this may not be the best first time introduction to the U.S. one could have.

As we began the day Ron, one of the directors at DCA, introduced the staff and who we would be in contact with for the next year or two. He let us in on the secret of success at DCA which was more like common sense. Can I be a Professional Airline Pilot?

I CAN, was the acronym we were to keep in our heads and in front of our eyes for the duration of our training.

Investment

It certainly is expensive to attend DCA however; the investment is not just an investment in me, my career and my future. It’s also the investment of my time to treat this training as a full time job. Ron asked us to look at a day in three, 8 hour periods. One 8 hour session is for sleep. The second 8 hours for myself, and the remaining 8 hours dedicated to the classroom and studying. This investment of time also includes time with my Certified Flight Instructor (CFI)

Communication

Essentially this is about communicating any problems I have right away. The longer I wait the bigger the problem will get, and most of the time the challenges that come my way are a simple couple of clicks of a computer. I'm curious to find out what type of problem we are talking about. Personal, academic, or…? I'm actually intrigued to see what type of challenges they are talking about. Something that happened to me while in the hotel industry is the word “problem” was erased from my lexicon and instead the word “challenge” was its replacement. It also showed my boss I was up for a challenge instead of being stuck with a problem. Anyway... back to I CAN. Communication is going to be one of the most valuable keys to attaining my goal of a commercial pilot's license.

Attitude

This one I think will be easy for me. Leaving baggage at the door as I come to learn is something I had to do when I was in hotels. People don't want to hear about your problems when they are on vacation. The airplane I'm flying doesn't care about my problems, and the baggage I take on the aircraft will affect my safety. I have this one covered - no problem! Thinking positively and reminding myself why I'm here when I might be feeling down is what I taught my coaches while with Zero G. It’s all about the Fish Philosophy. I'll give you a quick run down... but for all of you customer service trainers, you should really look into this training video. It’s not just an outlook on how to give outstanding customer service but it’s really a way of life that I use every day.

Play. You have to have fun at your job otherwise you shouldn't be doing it.

Make their Day. When with your guests/customers, let them in on what you are doing or go that extra mile that puts the smile on their face. Sometimes it’s as easy as listening. I just overheard someone say they are thirsty and need water. How easy is it to get them a drink of water?

Be There. Don't just show up to work on time... be there, with the guest, listen, talk, be genuine, write down the simple things like - they love Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia ice-cream, that insight might make or break any sale in the future.

Attitude. Here's the one I wanted to talk about. We have all been there, waking up in the morning and we just don't want to go to work. But you know you have to. There are many tricks I have learned from people over the years to get your mind in the frame to have a productive day - whether it’s yoga, that first cup of coffee, listening to that one song that gets you pumped. For me it’s physically putting on the uniform that triggers my "here I am ready to work attitude." I hate public speaking, and I had to speak every flight day with Zero G. My answer was to create a character who is exactly me in personality but enjoys getting up in front of a group of people. Putting on my flight suit put me into the Flight Day Phil character because you can’t hide behind the logo of your company. You are a representative and people know that when they see the logo or ID badge. I was fitted today for a uniform, so my character with amazing attitude will be back in full force when I don the Delta epauletted shirt every day for training.

Never

"Never Compromise SAFETY; Never stop trying to succeed; Never lose sight of your dream." I can do that. Starting out in customer service in the hotel industry, my mind has always been programmed that customer service is the number one priority. When with ZG, Safety became number one. Though I will admit I was asked to be the “good guy” with guest requests and let the safety folks say no even when I knew it wasn’t going to fly.

So my three to four hour day today was mostly orientation and getting my head in the right place. With this "secret to success" from Ron and the tricks I have collected over the years I'm not so terrified. I'm much more confident in my success here at DCA. Tomorrow is the start of ground training.

Day Two

Mostly more orientation. Brad, one of the Chief CFIs gave us a more in depth look at what to expect during ground school. Quite a few of the rules were presented to us as well, such as appearance, alcohol policy, and even driving in your own car. Some will need to shave their goatees and remove their piercings, whether it is ear, lip, nose, or eye brow. Of course if you can’t see it... then don’t worry about it.

When it comes to alcohol, if you are a pilot and get a DUI or DWI, you might as well send in your pilot’s license and any of the certificates you hold. Going grocery shopping in uniform is okay however, if I want a bag of chips and it’s in the same aisle as the beer or wine, I am not to go down that aisle, which does make sense. And when it comes to driving your own car, the FAA may not care but the airlines you fly for do and will check your records. In the past I have had quite the lead foot, but I want this too badly to jeopardize it.

I’ve noticed myself using the cruise control in my car much more often and setting it at plus 3 or 4 of the posted speed limit. As my dad said "you can feed your need for speed in the air all you want." Again, mostly common sense stuff.

A former student currently a First Officer (FO) for Jet Blue stopped by to say hello and talk about his experience coming through the program. The more I talk to pilots the more it seems that most of the work is done before and after a flight and very little during the actual flight. I’ve heard 3 people say "Don’t repeat this to a pilot but all we are, are glorified bus drivers." This Jet blue FO also explained why right now is one of the best times to be going through the program in industry history. Even though we hear a lot about how the airlines are suffering, the U.S. will always be flying and will always need pilots. Continental will be looking at almost 50% of their pilots retiring in the next 5 years. With a lot of the baby boomers ready to retire, it will seriously open up spots for all of us. In fact there will be a shortage of pilots in the coming years.

I think a lot of you are probably wondering and have been curious to know what type of plane I will be training in. I’ve received my first homework assignment. A DVD for the Cirrus SR20 was given out today and we are to watch modules 1 through 3 and to do the short quizzes at the end of each. Upon opening up the DVD on my laptop I'm greeted with a quote by Leonardo Da Vinci, "When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return." Even though I have yet to fly I have already found my eyes turned upward to see what the weather is like. I’ve also been checking the weather reports and averages from the last couple of years for the area. I'm hoping when I do start to fly I'm not scheduled between 13:00 and 16:00 for the next couple of months for this seems to be the rainy season for Florida.

After these couple of days I'm feeling a bit better about the choice and commitment I have made. My only challenge is there will be quite a bit of memorization. Unless they can make this course a movie (my mind is a steel trap for remembering movie plots and lines), I will be in for some long nights. Of course the DVD given out was a huge relief to me because in essence it is in a movie format.

I'm off to put in the remaining 4 hours of my 8 for studying. I will try to be in the habit of posting every Sunday or Monday. Thanks for reading and please leave a comment. I'm curious of your thoughts on how I'm doing. If you have suggestions or advice, please don’t hesitate.