photo by steed media service

If you can learn to ride a bike; you can learn to fly a plane. That premise might sound like a gross oversimplifi- cation to some, but for Delta pilot William Davis, flying has been just that easy.

Davis, who has been flying for 30 years says, "It's like driving a car except ... we can go up and down. I got my first pilot's license when I was 19 years old. I have been with Delta for about 20 years and I've flown three types of airplanes. Each time I had to go to a special school that lasted from 6 weeks to 10 weeks [to earn the certification to fly that particular aircraft]. When you get your driver's license you are pretty much authorized to drive any type of vehicle. [The] difference in flying is you have to get a license to fly a specific type of airplane."

Smaller airlines may hire high school graduates, but larger and commercial airlines require at least 2 years of college and prefer to hire college graduates. Many pilots get their wings working for smaller, commuter airlines, where they obtain valuable experience flying passengers on scheduled flights into busy airports.

Pilot applicants must pass a strict physical examination to ensure that they are in good health, and they are required to have 20/20 vision with or without corrective lenses. Training for airline pilots includes a week of company indoctrination, 3-6 weeks of ground school, and 25 hours of initial operating experience, including a checkride with an FAA aviation safety inspector. Once trained, pilots are required to attend recurrent training and simulator checks, several times a year throughout their careers. The Princeton Review reports that there are currently 95,000 people in the profession working an average of approximately 100 hours per week. While the average starting salary is $23,000 annually, that figure jumps to $59,250 after five years and to $200,000 for a pilot who has 10 to 15 years of flying experience.

"We do a summer camp called Ace Camps for kids who are thinking about participating in this great career field. We are sponsored by the Organization of Black Airline Pilots and Delta Airlines. I truly enjoy my job. It's great to see a different place in the world every day. When we take off in Atlanta at 8 o'clock in the morning and we turn north or south to head to our destination, and I see all those cars stuck on the highway with their brake lights on, I think to myself that I have a really nice job," jokes Davis. -adrienne gadling and roz edward


For more information on aviation careers, visit www.faa.gov.
Visit Ace Camps site at www.acecamps.org.

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