Personal Introduction

My interest in aviation began a lot later than most people who have let aviation consume their lives. It is pretty easy to agree that once you fall in love with aviation, there is no going back. This didn't happen for me until my junior year of high school when I was performing in a jazz concert, and there was a gentleman present who was affiliated with Eagle Flight Center in some way. He essentially made it clear that flying was an option for me. That is when I became very interested and began to really fall in love with aviation. Something that I never really paid very much attention to beforehand, was all that I became interested in. So, that is how my interest began, and now I am a senior in the Aviation Flight Technology program, who has plans of graduating at the end of this year's winter semester.

My future plans are not set in stone, but with that said, I do have a rough outline of what I would like to do. I would definitely like to flight instruct. I believe that in order to be the outstanding pilot that I would hope to be, that I should be able to know the material well enough to teach it. I am also somewhat interested in flying for the Air National Guard. I have quite the obsession with the A-10 Thunderbolt II, and having the opportunity to fly it would not only fulfill this obsession, but it could also really help out with my career beyond the military. I have made connections with people associated with the A-10 program and have the proper means to hopefully make this a reality. Beyond the hopes of flying my favorite airplane, I am intrigued by corporate aviation. The aircraft flown in this sector of aviation are easily some of the most impressive aircraft in the world. At the same time though, I am not completely sold on the lifestyle of pilots in some parts of corporate aviation. I am also intrigued by the stability and reliability of the airline industry at the moment. At the moment, the industry looks really promising, and that is a solid selling point for me.

I am very excited for the guest speakers we are going to have this semester. It is definitely a good way to get a look into the industry that we are becoming a valuable part of. Even though I have very little interest in flying UAV's, I am becoming very interested by where this is going to take aviation in the next few years. I believe it would be very valuable to have a speaker who has some insight on where the unmanned aircraft industry is headed. I would also be very interested in having a speaker on the topic of military aviation. I feel that having someone explain the options there are in military aviation, and how available these options are would be very helpful to myself and other students considering military aviation as a career path. This could lead into the current topic that is being
discussed in the world of military aviation. That topic is the discussion of whether the Air Force should retire the A-10. Personally I believe this is a completely idiotic decision to make, but it would be something fairly interesting to put up for debate. I would also like to see a discussion on the newly released movie, 'Sully." I have yet to see it, but have heard great things about it!