Getting It In Writing

[Guest sharky]

When I did 'the road trip' (round 1), was waaay too late. Finished school in april, was knocking on doors a week later and found that everyone was set for the year. "Sorry, we've hired all we needed a few months ago" So I returned to my summer groundcrew job.

 

Soooo, that autumn, when I was laid off from the seasonal work, keeping in mind that I was too late for positions last season...wasn't going to let that happen again, I hit the road (round 2) in january. The best part was, no one was busy, and all the chief pilots, ops mgrs had time to sit down and shoot the breeze with me. Sometimes for nearly 2 hours of gabbing. Most indicated that they know how their year is going to look, and what kind of staff they'll need by about february, march, and to keep in touch as that time nears. It worked out well...did my followups and was confident with my groundcrew experience with aerial spraying that something would materialize. Sure enough, a 2 companies out west were getting a short list for their spray season and I appeard to be a contender. But then I took this job I have now, kind of fell into my lap. I decided to take the 'sure thing' and not wait to see how short the 'short lists' got.

 

It may sound cliche, but determination and perserverence does pay off.

 

Working at a flight school, I can certainly agree with 412 Driver about attitude. Some of the cantidates, you know will do very well, and a few others are in for a surprise:

 

Me: "Did you do your DI, are you ready to go?"

Student: "All set!"

Me: "How much fuel did you put in?"

Student: Blank stare

Me: "...How much fuel is in it?"

Student: Blank stare

Me: "Maybe you should grab that drum there and get moving before the instructor gets here"

Student: Blank stare

 

Student watches while fellow classmates gas up the machine, because they want to get going too. Yikes.