Intern 101

It’s another surreal night in dispatch. I came in last night to start a weeked charter trip off as I am the on-call dispatcher this weekend and I’m still here early Monday morning. Things got a little dicey with the weather and partially broken airplanes so I didn’t feel comfortable leaving the office and here I am watching a blip on the screen make its way from detroit to the heart of mexico and dealing with its problems along the way.

This is my final week in the internship and I’m excited and sad that its over with. Three weeks back home working for my bro and then its back the pilot mill to clog the grindstones. I’m excited about coming back in part to the fact that we might have some new aircraft when I return. Our fleet of twenty or so x aircraft are aging and we are in need of a new type. The chief pilot and I have been strongly campaigning for the Dornier 328 and I believe the battle is nearly at its end. The 328 has never been used for cargo and it is my belief that it will blow away a small sector of the market and thats all a small airline needs. To the future

Joex

The eighteen year old crosses the stage, the pump in his chest rattling its confines. A feeling of exuberance within him, pride, fulfillment and regret show on his face. He feels as an adult, standing on the edge of a plateau with his childhood behind him and his whole life before him. He doesn’t realize yet that he is actually on the beginning slopes of a mountain, a mountain of experience in which the incline ahead of him is as steep as that behind him. A few months from now he will look back at this moment and realize how little he knew.

At least that’s the way I am, I find it ironic that an 18 year old is supposed to decide what he wants to do for the rest of his life when he doesn’t even know himself yet. I am just beginning to find out what I need and like in jobs and what jobs I could excel in. Yes I’ve been doing a lot of soul searching and attempted decision making lately. What do I do when I get back to school; stick with my commercial aviation degree, go ATC, get an aviation management degree, get all three?

I’m almost positive I won’t be majoring in commercial aviation; eventhough I still want to be a pilot I need to be more diverse. I’ve realized that a commercial aviation major is like a fottball team with an explosive passing attack, but no running game and no depth. If the defense shuts you down on the pass or one of your stars is injured, you have nowhere to turn.

Just downing my fourth or fifth cup of coffee, it’s around four and there is no sign of life outside the window yet. Seeing as how I am rather bored at the moment, how about a post.

Things have changed around here in the last month. Formerly the company had a main headquarters and than a charter headquarters in a different part of the country. Well about a month ago the charter headquarters was relocated to the main headquarters and with the demand on the dispatchers doubled, they were short. So to make a long story short I am now a charter dispatcher!

It’s a fairly interesting job, but not that difficult and after a week or two I was up to speed. Presently the dispatcher who works the night shift is gone so that duty has been relegated to me… agh. So its early early morning there is only one trip running and things are slow.

Let me tell you something about Canada, they love to make things difficult. A trip to mexico, no problem an email here and a phone call there a few forms and pronto on to better things. Canada, a totally different story. Every time a customer calls and books a Canadian trip I cringe. When I hear the words Canadian Eapis and AMS I cringe more than the white house press secretary does everytime Bush makes a public address. I am beginning to agree with Da Borat: We should Nuke Canada, not only so I don’t have to deal with their customs, but then we can get all their stuff…. like…… ummm Marijuana and umm Mounties, and possibly free healthcare.

J x

I get home at 5 o’clock and stand there…. hmm might as well watch some TV. Watching “That 70’s Show” isn’t exactly conducive to deep thought, but I kept wondering what was different….. Oh that was it, there was no guilt. Working a part time job and going to school with a heavy credit load led to a feeling of guilt anytime I sat in front of the tube during the week.
Damn its nice to do nothing and not have the dark cloud of a test the next day in the back of your mind.

So the Internship…..

I’ve never been an intern before but I feel pretty confident in saying that this is a little different than the normal internship. I haven’t gotten anyone coffee yet, as the popular image of the intern dictates; and after a month here I don’t see too many coffee carrying duties in the future.

Instead I’ve been working at a variety of different projects with a good deal of leeway as to how I do them and what the finished result looks like. Currently I am working on setting up an online training program that in the future will replace the annual 5 hours of mandatory ground training. They are looking for 12 lessons (one a month) and for the past couple days I have been working on creating the quizzes for these lessons. By the time I’m done, I am probably going to know the systems on the aircraft as well as the pilots should. At the moment if anyone mentions prop governors to me I might toss my keyboard in the general direction of their face; unless of course they offer me another trip in the right seat of the King Air.

As to the commenter who thinks I might be blind to the perils of PFT/PFJ; no this is not PFT, If I complete the internship I will be guaranteed an FO position upon graduation.

Oh and to anyone who might be thinking, “Hmmm I wonder what kind of lighting the intern has in the office”, or some other specific question about an internship, well than by all means speak up… umm that means leave a comment.

Here’s to Friday,
J

I sat up straight; jerked into attention by what these geltleman in matching polos had just said. A guaranteed FO positon upon graduation with no minimum flight time!! These two men from an air cargo carrier are telling our class of an internship opportunity and its benifits, however the application process had been closed until next year. On the surface it sounded like an excellent opportunity so I ignored the closed application process comment and that afternoon I emailed the Director of Training my resume.

A day later after an interview that morning and a sim ride in the afternoon, I was frantically researching the company, wondering what I had got myself into. Staring into my cheerios the next morning the cell phone rang and a minute later I had an internship offer.

WOW! The next couple days involved careful analysis of the pros and cons; or did I flip a coin. I couldn’t tell. The company appeared to be stable, safe, and growing so…. alright let’s do it.

I start in two weeks.