Ever since I was eight years and my mother got a job working for United Airlines at their maintenance base at SFO I have loved aviation. She would take me to work every so often. I would get to talk to mechanics and crawl around every plane the foreman would allow me to.

Naturally this led me to pursue a career in aviation later in my life, but it has been a rocky road full of detours and surprises. My dream through high school and beyond was to be a pilot, however I did not realize the true pitfalls of the job and the road to becoming a pilot until I graduated. I was never a good student so I did not have the grades for scholarships and with no family help I determined I would have to pay for my pilot licenses on my own. I started a computer tech job with a contractor for UPS (They were later bought by UPS), but shortly became tired of it. Since I suffered tremendously from SJS (Shiny Jet Syndrome), I decided that I would get my A&P so that I could pay for my pilot licenses.

Having read the shiny pages of Flying Magazine, I discovered Spartan School of Aeronautics and believed their ads that they were the best way to get my A&P licenses. Granted they are a top-notch school, I soon found myself unable to financially continue and had to leave after only three months. It was very severe blow to my morale and I returned home to go back to work for UPS.

On my way home from Tulsa I took my first cross-country bus ride. Though it was often cramped and at times uncomfortable, I kept looking out the window and saw what I perceived as huge, shiny trucks with big ads for over the road truck drivers (known in the business as OTR). With all the time to think and the exciting traveling they got to do, I thought it would be a great job. I got home and called companies right away to start driving. I found out you had to be 21 to drive OTR and I would have to wait two years.

So I suffered through two more years working for UPS as a computer tech (sitting behind a desk drives me nuts) until I could finally drive for a living. It is a decision people still ask me: "why in the HELL did you do that?" but to me it was (and still is) the best decision I ever made in my life.

I found out quickly that the job was not what I thought it would be and the company I started out with was not as great as I had thought. I was treated very poorly and wound up going through 3 companies in a year. My second year brought my 4th and final company that I wound up enjoying very much. I drove for them for two years and in that time I was able to straighten out my goals and decide what I really wanted. I also was able to travel extensively with all companies and nearly completed my goal of stepping foot in all fifty states (North Dakota is the lone exception). It was definitely the most adventurous time of my life and truly a life changing experience that I would recommend to anyone that needs a break from life, but does not want to make a career out of it.

During all that time I figured out that being a pilot was not really my goal (though it would be great). I really just wanted to work for an airline and have the travel privileges my family had when I was a kid. While some may argue they are a thing of the past for airline employees, I have so far used them with very little headaches by watching flight loads and having flexible travel plans.

I also realized I missed the troubleshooting and the problem solving of my previous stint as a computer technician. With the added uncertainty of some medical history that could make my life as a pilot difficult, I took a look into getting my A&P license again. I came up with the plan that it would be a greater insurance policy to get my A&P first then my pilot licenses no matter what career path I chose.

I started dating a woman in Rockford, IL and soon found a local community college there (called Rock Valley College) that had an A&P program. I decided to check it out and it blew my mind that it only cost roughly $6,000 for the entire two year program (Spartan was $24,000 in 1999 and had risen to $34,000 by 2004). I also came to realize that the education I would have received at Spartan was not that far above the caliber I would receive from RVC and both had an equal shot at landing me a job at the places I wanted to work. Best of all I had to live in state/district for only thirty days to qualify at that low price for RVC. After meeting some Spartan grads at work I have definitely determined that I made the right choice in not returning to Spartan.

In August 2004 I started school again after a 5-year break, it was very difficult adjusting at first, but by the end I breezed through and it feels like school was done in a blink of the eye. The topics included studies in: aerodynamics, hydraulics, electricity, powerplants (turbine and reciprocating), sheet metal, and basically everything else in repair and construction you could possibly need to know to fix an airplane (minus avionics and upholstery). At times it is very overwhelming, but if you stick to the books it all comes together quickly. As an A&P mechanic you truly have to know the entire airplane you work on and know where to find the documentation to fix it.

From the first day of class I started researching jobs I could get and where they were. I focused mainly on airlines but also considered working in general aviation and even working on airships (one of the instructors at RVC flies the Goodyear blimp on occasion). I finally narrowed down the airlines I wished to work for by the start of the last semester. They were: Horizon Air, American Eagle Airlines, and Skywest. I received interviews and job offers from Horizon and American Eagle. The Horizon job would be in Portland, OR (not too far from my parents in ID) while Eagle was offering me Bangor, ME (where some of my family lives). With Eagle I had the option to move back to Chicago if my current girlfriend did not like the new location and it wound up being the deciding factor. Both companies were very attractive and it was very difficult to make a decision.

About 2 weeks after my interview at Eagle I caught wind of openings with Eagle at Chicago O'Hare airport. I immediately called the recruiter who confirmed the openings. She informed to fax the copy of my A&P when I had it in hand (I had graduated when I interviewed. I still had a month before graduation) and then she would confirm my class date. I did just that and had an awesome graduation day as I got called for a class date within minutes of faxing my temporary license.

So far I have enjoyed my journey here and look forward to my future as a mechanic. Is this the easiest career in the world? Probably not. Is this the highest paying job in the world? Definitely not. The only thing I can say is do your research and look at the pitfalls along with the hype and you can't go wrong. If you love aviation, love troubleshooting, don't mind getting a little grease (or even “blue juice” - the worst part of the job), enjoy doing something different every day and want to work with cutting edge technology, this is a job for you.