Careers

NASA signed a memorandum of understanding this week with the National Science Foundation (NSF) “to collaborate on an initiative to open new avenues to engineering careers for communities underserved and underrepresented in STEM [science, technology, engineering, and math].” The collaboration will tap Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) in recruiting and educating the engineers it cites as “essential […]

It’s not enough to present young people with opportunities, they have to be sold on their benefits according to a young pilot who has made it his mission to do just that. Barrington Irving, who became the youngest person to circumnavigate the world solo at the age of 23, told an audience at NBAA-BACE that […]

The second time I received a postcard showing a photo of a smiling gentleman of “senior” age seated in the left seat of an aircraft and emblazoned with the words Over 65? Boy, do we have a job for you!, I began wondering if the industry has really gotten so desperate for pilots that they […]

Flexjet, the aircraft management arm of Bombardier, says it’s hiring pilots to meet the demand of a huge increase in business. While airframe companies have continued to say demand for their products is flat, Flexjet says demand for its services is up 83 percent in the first quarter of 2013 over the same period in […]

St. Louis University’s Parks College has conferred the first-ever Ph.D. in Aviation in the U.S. to Damon Lercel. The school has been working on establishing the degree for 10 years and the new doctor says it’s an important milestone in aviation education. “The program offered not only an in-depth immersion in research, but also opportunities […]

You saunter out to the mailbox expecting the usual: a utility bill or two a few pieces of junk mail, another credit-card statement that produces a mild state of depression; and, thankfully, a Victoria’s Secret catalog that at least momentarily dissipates the thought that the cost of your flight training has brought you to the […]

The cost is staggering, isnt it? The price of admission to a professional flight deck wherein you can actually be paid to aviate can be overwhelming to the average Joe or Joan.You were first impressed by those great-looking, four-color display ads in the magazines. But a quick call to the admissions reps at a dozen […]

Airlines … Corporate … Airlines … Corporate … Airlines … Corporate …Enough already!You — you’re the odd one. You joined the aviation fraternity for something entirely different. Hauling 50 RJ passengers crammed into an aluminum tube from “A” to “B” as an air transport driver is not your cup of tea. Catering to the whims […]

What a difference a couple of years makes. It was barely two years ago that the pilot employment market was sizzling. Airlines were siphoning thousands of pilots into the cockpits of Boeings, while corporate flight departments and fractional jet outfits were recruiting airmen by the truckload, it seemed. All of that upward movement created vacancies […]

I consider myself very lucky to be able to go into the pilot’s lounge, here at the virtual airport, and talk with or exchange e-mails with some very perceptive, knowledgeable pilots. I deeply appreciate the time they take to educate me so that I can write this column. In the last five months I sent […]