Training

The rigors of an intensive, fast-paced flight training program are proving no match for 28-year-old Tennessee native Trevor Pickard. When he’s not working on his instrument rating, he’s training for his first Ironman competition, which he hopes to complete later this year. “Flying ties so many emotions together,” he says. “The sense of exploration, adventure […]

Simcom Aviation Training announced in a press release on Tuesday that it has acquired a training provider for TBM aircraft to expand training opportunities available to TBM operators. Simcom took over Turbine Solutions, Inc. (TSI), based at Camarillo Airport, in California. “Simcom is a recognized leader in general aviation training and together we can deliver […]

Oscar Mims knew at a young age that he wanted to be an airline pilot. His uncle is a pilot for American, and his mother is a flight attendant for Delta. The family’s airline travel benefits allowed him to see the country and develop a sense of what it would be like to work as […]

For a supposed airline pilot and aviation writer, I’ve spent a scandalous amount of time at sea level over the past year. In late October, my wife, Dawn, and I cast off the lines from our summer dock in the Chesapeake and pointed our 42-foot sailboat, Windbird, southward to the Caribbean. From the eye-popping waterscapes of […]

California native Sherry Smith never imagined she’d grow up to be an airline pilot. Nobody in her family is in the aviation industry, and flying wasn’t something she ever seriously considered. But when she graduated from college with a business management degree, Sherry knew that she wanted to travel, and soon found a job as […]

A test program that is giving military veterans the opportunity to become airline pilots could help relieve some of the tension caused by the current pilot shortage. Announced last fall by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao, the Forces to Flyers Research Initiative is a three-year program that will give veterans access to flight […]

Utah native Luke Maddox was working as a Spanish teacher when he realized he needed a career change. “When I finished my bachelor’s degree I started into a graduate program, and did a year of that,” he says. Something gnawed at him, though, as he recalled his childhood dream of becoming a pilot. “I thought, […]

I can’t really say I know Sarah Rovner, because we’ve never actually met. We’re both airline pilots, we have a bunch of mutual friends in common, we presented at the same aviation conference (one day apart) and we’ve chatted online and on the telephone. But mostly I “know” Sarah because we’re Facebook friends and she […]

Linnea Couture is a new instructor with ATP Flight School whose aviation career is just lifting off. Like many aspiring airline pilots, her interest in flying developed during childhood. Her father, an aviation enthusiast and radio controlled (RC) model airplane builder, enjoyed taking Linnea to Chicago O’Hare Airport to watch airplanes. “I was maybe 3 […]

As the pilot shortage becomes an increasing reality with a large percentage of the professional pilot population reaching retirement age, the country is begging for fast-track programs for budding professional pilots. A new program at the International Aero Academy in Lakeland, Florida, promises a lower total cost to achieve the degree program and flight hours […]