When I was a kid, all I could dream about was flying. 

I built model airplanes (though not very well) and I always looked up into the sky when an airplane flew over. 

Driving by the airport I would strain to look at the runway and crane my neck to catch a glimpse of any airplane.  Oh how I wanted to fly.  And I did.  At 15, I started flying lessons.  I would pay for the lessons by working for my dad on the weekends.

On my 16th birthday, I soloed a Cessna 152. 

Then one day, while in high school, while sitting in the counselors office waiting for my turn to discover what, if anything, I was to do with my life after graduation, there, sitting on the book shelf was a brochure for the Air Force Academy.  Yes!!!  This was for me.  But I didn’t have the foresight to make it happen. 

My grades weren’t good enough.  My SAT scores weren’t even close to good enough.  So I went Texas A&M and tried to get into the military and fly that way. 

But again I came up short.  My major was aerospace engineering but you would have really thought it was drinking and girls.  So, after three years of bad grades and a lot of tequila, I enlisted in the Air Force. 

Again, no luck getting into flying but I did get my private pilot license, was transferred to Hawaii and flew friends around Oahu, but the dream of flying heaving metal seemed gone. 

Moving forward a little faster…I got my degree, moved to England as a defense contractor, then one day, while visiting Houston, Texas, three things came together all at once:  Starbucks, Barnes and Noble, and Flight Training Magazine.  I discovered I could go to a school and learn how to become an airline pilot…and that’s what I am now. 

I am now a captain for SkyWest Airlines (www.skywest.com) and based in Colorado Springs.  This blog is about my experiences both good and bad and what I’ve learned along the way!  And I’ve learned a lot and I hope you do too!

I currently hold an Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) Certificate, a Type Rating for a CL-65 (CRJ200), but I am also qualified on the CRJ700 and the CRJ900, and Commercial Pilot Certificate for a Single Engine Airplane. I am a Gold Seal flight instructor: Certificated Flight Instructor (CFI), CFI-Instrument (CFI-I), and Multiengine Instructor (MEI). I have over 5,000 total flight time and no idea how much flight instructor time.

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