SPRING 2018 ISSUE III Editor-in-Chief: Deicoh Florentine The skies have been busy with students this year. Often times, the small airplanes you see and hear overhead are CWU students on training flights. With students progressing in their training, cross country flying season is among us! Students are preparing to fly to other airports such as Grant County International (Moses Lake), Felts Field (Spokane), Tri-Cities Airport (Pasco) and Pangborn Memorial Airport (Wenatchee). Philip Corbett stands next to a CWU Piper Arrow, the complex aircraft used for training our Certified Flight Instructors 1 CWU Aviation Welcomes Philip Corbett Philip Corbett, a recent graduate of the CWU Aviation program, is the newest addition to our flight instruction team. A native of Ellensburg, Corbett chose CWU s aviation program because it is in his hometown and it is reasonably priced. Corbett decided to become a Flight Instructor explaining It s a great way to get flight hours flying the new planes. Corbett accredits his success to his self motivation saying one day I was flying in the left seat, the next day I was flying in the right seat. Of all the aspects of teaching, Corbett s favorite is passing on my knowledge and seeing the student get it right.
Alumni Edition For this quarter s newsletter, we reached out to three of our alumni to get some insight on their experiences in the airline industry. Here s what they had to say. Why did you choose Horizon Air? I chose to work at Horizon Air because of the bases that the company offers to their pilots here in the northwest. Having grown up here, I wanted to be able to stay close to home and not have to commute very far. I also chose Horizon Air because of the close-knit and family-like culture. I quickly learned to appreciate the work environment when I was an intern in 2015, which made me want to come back. How long have you worked at Horizon Air? I have worked for Horizon Air for 11 months. How many hours do you typically work in a week? Month? I typically fly about 20 hours a week, which equates to about 80 hours a month Gage Geist, a CWU Alumni and Horizon Air First Officer on the Embraer 175 What major airline do you hope to work for in the future? I would someday like to work for Alaska, Delta, or American Airlines in the future. What does a typical day for you look like? A typical work day begins with checking in at the crew room one hour before departure time. I meet up with the rest of the crew and we proceed out to the aircraft to conduct our preflight preparations. As a first officer, it s my job to do the exterior inspection, obtain ATC clearance, program the flight management systems, and review pertinent flight plan and weather information. The captain and I will decide who will fly first, then we will switch each leg after that. We typically fly about 2-3 legs a day on average. The enroute portions of the flight mostly involves monitoring the aircraft systems, flight management systems, and fuel load. About 200 miles from our destination we review our arrival procedures, weather, and prepare the aircraft for landing. Once arrived and in the gate, we do it all again for the next leg, and usually grab a quick bite to eat. At the end of the day we pack up, head out to the van and go to our hotel. Depending on the time we get in, the entire flight crew will usually go out to lunch or dinner together, which is always a nice way to end the work day. We do the same thing again the next 2-4 days, which for me is usually followed by 3-6 days off. What is your favorite part of the job? My favorite part of the job is getting to fly all across the West coast and Midwest, all in one day, and being able to see all the scenery in between. What would you tell someone who is interested in working for Horizon Air? For anyone who is interested in joining Horizon Air, I would tell them that this is a great and fun company to work for. If you think you d enjoy flying all over the west coast and Midwest, all while working with people that you will get to know very well, this is the place for you! 2
Why did you choose SkyWest Airlines? I chose SkyWest because I wanted to live on the west coast. I was impressed with how oriented SkyWest was with trying to preserve their original culture as a familyrun business. Their culture has made the job very enjoyable. It is easy to make new friends, have fun, and also to form a positive relationship with the chief pilot and other management. Stability and job security was also very important to me in choosing a regional, and SkyWest had never laid off or furloughed any employees. How long have you worked at SkyWest Airlines? I ve worked at SkyWest for 2 and a half years. When I started, I was Chicago based for 4 months, Portland based for 3 months, and now Seattle based for a year and a half How many hours do you typically fly in a week? Month? On average, I typically fly about 20 hours per 4 day trip, and I usually have a trip every week. Per month, I have four 4 day trips so it works out to being about 80 flight hours per month Jonathon Ly, a CWU Aviation Alumni and SkyWest First Officer on the Embraer 175 What major airline do you hope to work for in the future? I hope to work for Delta in the future, but I am excited to explore and consider other major airlines as well. What does a typical day for you look like? On the job, with every flight, I begin with doing the preflight walkaround while the Captain examines the maintenance logs. After that, we both program the flight plan and performance data into the plane s FMS while the passengers board. We take turns with who is doing the radio calls and who is flying. During cruise, it is just like flying a cross country. Once we land, we get ready for the next flight, or we pack up and leave the airplane. Our times to start and end the work day change a lot. Some trips may have early morning show times, some may have afternoon show times, and others may have both. The duty time can also be different per day. Some days I may have 1 flight, and other days up to 6 flights. Other times, there may be a break in our day and we have a few hours between What is your favorite part of the job? One of my favorite parts of the job is the overnight cities during the trip. In Seattle, we fly for Alaska and Delta so we have a large variety of different cities in our trips. For instance, a few interesting ones I have had are Las Vegas, Kalispell, San Francisco, San Diego, Washington DC, and New York. Being able to visit different cities every week for a living is just like being on vacation, and helps make the job not even feel like work. What would you tell someone who is interested in working for SkyWest? SkyWest is a great place to work. The people who work at SkyWest are passionate, professional, and fun to be with. SkyWest also has dozens of new aircraft on order, and bases all over America. There are plenty of opportunities for everyone. The training for new hires is also very positive, and is similar to the CRJ classes that Underhill teaches at CWU. If I had to do it all over again, I would definitely choose SkyWest. It is never too early or too late to start networking in the aviation industry. 3
Wesley Clapper, a JetBlue Airways Captain on the A320/ A321 Captain Wesley Clapper, JetBlue Airways I graduated from CWU in 2004. I participated in an internship program with JetBlue Airways in Southern California in the summer of 2004, and landed my first flying job as a flight instructor at Orange County Flight Center. In 2005, I returned to Ellensburg, WA and instructed for Midstate Aviation, a contractor for CWU. My first airline career came in 2006 when I took my first Regional Airline job with ExpressJet Airlines. By 2010, I hadn t upgraded at the regionals and took a gamble leaving the regionals without Turbine PIC and accepted a First Officer position with JetBlue Airways and have been here ever since. While at JetBlue I got heavily involved in pilot advocacy/union work, I upgraded in 2014, and now serve as the ALPA JetBlue Master Executive Council Secretary Treasurer. Some advice I would give current aviation students is to never close any doors or burn any bridges, and don t be afraid to take some risk. Undoubtedly, establishing goals is very important, but be flexible and realize sometimes things don t always work out the way you plan. For instance, being a native Pacific Northwest student, my goal in college was to work at Horizon Airlines as a regional step, then move on to a carrier like Alaska or Delta for my career. But I failed to be selected through a direct-hire program with Horizon, which at the time was devastating. However, this failure and my current career path is probably the most fortunate thing, airline wise, to happen to me. Don t worry about failures or coming short on achieving goals; oftentimes there is a silver lining. For me, it gave me drive to be even more successful and pursue different avenues. I believe the structure of the program now at CWU will be more beneficial for the students. The flying will be more cost effective, standardized, streamlined, and accessible. This undoubtedly will set the students up for success. Besides learning to fly in Kittitas Valley which provides some of the most challenging weather and promotes superior pilotage skills my favorite part of the program was requiring a minor. My understanding is that this requirement no longer exists, but students should seriously consider their minor studies. For me, the business administration minor has been invaluable in my current position as MEC secretary-treasurer. And for plenty of my former classmates, through the peaks and troughs of this cyclical industry, a minor degree has helped them as well. Finally, right now is a great time to be in the industry. This industry is a small community, and you will make lifetime friends with those sitting in class with you. There is a true looming pilot shortage, the compensation is on the rise to sum it all up, it s a great time to be a pilot! 4
Nathaniel Freedman, the New Face of CWU Nathaniel started with CWU this past February as a senior flight instructor. He is the head of recruiting for the aviation department, and also oversees line operations. Originally hailing from Texas, Nathaniel finished his flight training in the Canadian Rockies. He has been instructing since 2016, and is passionate about seeing every student grow in their confidence and good judgment. When not flying, Nathaniel enjoys mountain biking and spending time with his kids in the great outdoors. Go out there and get er done! -Assistant Chief Flight Instructor, Rich Bates Meet the Editor My name is Deicoh Florentine and I have been publishing our quarterly aviation newsletter this past year. This is one of my many tasks as a Dispatcher for CWU. With CWU taking over flight training this past Fall, lots of changes are being made and the Wind Shear is a way to keep people informed of those changes. This quarter, we did things a little differently and featured some alumni to give perspective on how someone s future could look. Anyone can find statistics online for different airlines so we wanted a way to present peoples real life experiences and opinions about their career. 5