How did you get your freight flying job, Colleen?

What happens when you see blacked out windows on a twin engine at some random municipal airport in the middle of the desert of New Mexico? You take a picture, because you think it’s an alphabet agency, then you find the pilot.

But when you find the pilot, he’s a normal looking guy, a nice guy. You ask what he flies, and he says, “UPS Packages”.

That’s the day I met my future coworker, Hector.

Hector and I spoke at length about his journey into the freight world. The job he had prior to flying packages was in land survey, which was what I thought would be a good next step for me. Hector was kind enough to tell me the company he worked for prior and said, “they are likely hiring right now, you should apply!”

Apply I did. Hear back I did not.

I didn’t exchange information with Hector the first time I met him, massive bogey. I knew I would be back at that little New Mexican airstrip soon for another student’s commercial cross country, so I was hoping I would run into him again. I did run into him again, so I went right up to him, re-introduced myself, and said, “I never heard back from your old survey company.” Hector replied, “give me your number, I will reach out to my old contact and connect you two.”

Fast forward two weeks, I received a text from Hector, “hey dude, you wanna fly freight?”

As I was sitting in my home office, staring at that text, I was juggling my tech job while also flight instructing; the hiring pool was sitting stagnant for pilots with triple the time I had. Someone wiser than me once said, “take every opportunity you can.”

“Absolutely!” I replied.

I hadn’t crafted an official flying resume, which in it of itself is an art. I barely threw one together for my CFI gig. I sat in front of my computer, messaging every mentor I could to get as many eye balls on my how I wrote my work experience, stressing over how I could stand out with such little experience.

Eventually my resume got to a point where I felt I could send it off, so I did. A few days later I received a call from an unknown number with a 505 area code, The chief pilot was on the line. “I see you meet our minimums, want to come out for an interview?”

That interview was the first time I flew a six pack panel.

Here are the photos my family received from my interview:

The aviation industry hiring process is very close knit. I have heard stories of companies hiring pilots below posted minimums on the job posting based on who they know and how they were introduced to the company.

Always be willing to go up to someone and introduce yourself. Take the opportunities you can and keep moving forward. Have faith in God that your next steps will be alongside Him and on His path.