Introduction to a Pilot
Hi my name is David Walsh! I am an Aviation Pro-Pilot major and I plan on graduating this December! The coolest thing about my major is that I get to fly airplanes almost everyday! I even got to fly OU's King Air which the university uses for flights to transport faculty and staff including Football players and coaches. I got to fly the defensive coordinator on one of these flights for work, which was an awesome experience!
King Air Photo Taken By Myself
Some of my biggest accomplishments last semester (the spring) were getting my Multi engine instructors license and hitting 800 hours of total flight time. Bringing me 200 away from the 1000 hours I need to go to the airlines. My career aspirations are to become an airline pilot with American Airlines! In January I will start with Envoy Air which is a regional carrier for American Airlines who operate American Eagle flights! Im a huge airplane nerd and I always have my head turned to the sky! As for hobbies I love to cook! I grew up cooking with my mom and family almost every weekend. It doesn't matter what it is I will make an effort to cook it! It doesn't always come out how I planned but I still learned from the experience. But my favorite hobby is carpentry and metal working. These hobbies are a bit difficult to exercise in my small apartment but when I go home I plan on completing a bunch of builds that I have stacked up. If I had an extra day for fun I would use it to use my travel benefits with Envoy and travel to some places that are on my list! For example Ive always wanted to go to Austria and Germany but I just need to find a time to play the exciting game of non-rev travel and hoping I get on the flights.
Hey David! I think it's so cool that you're getting a degree in Aviation! And the fact that you've gotten to fly OU's King Air is even cooler. Congratulations on getting your license too. It's also awesome that you already have a job lined up. Carpentry and metal-working are also really unique hobbies so it's really cool you get to do them.
ReplyDeleteOh wow, this is great, David; I just read a blog post from another pilot in the class. How cool is that...? Do you two each other? It seems like you might; here is Tyler's Introduction to Future Aviation Major post. Like I said there, my husband is a pilot, and also a meteorologist; I know he did consulting back in the day for American Airlines, and he used to teach an aviation-and-weather course.
ReplyDeleteAnd maybe you can use this class to plan out what your ideal Indian vacation would be, the places you'd like to see... there is Indian-Epics-inspired tourism all over India in fact, like these Ramayana tour packages. And being a pilot, you might get the perfect chance to actually go there someday; you can be ready to take advantage of the opportunity if it arises! :-)
David it is a great pleasuer to meet you and I am astonished as ti the fact that you have done 800 hours of total flight time that is insainly amazing I wish I was able to fly. It is nice to know that you are able to fly faculty for school work I didn't even know that was a thing. I wish you luck to graduate this December I would recommend you to fly over Europe especially Switzerland, Sweden, UK and Denmark I am from Europe and I TAKE IMMENSE PRIDE IN SAYING THAT IT IS AN EYE OPENING EXPERIENCE GRASP IT ONCE YOU CAN.
ReplyDeleteHi David!
ReplyDeleteWhat a cool major! I didn’t even know that was a thing. And now I’m kind of jealous; accounting/MIS is much less glamorous. Congratulations on starting with Envoy Air. That’ll be a great opportunity! Hopefully you’ll get to see a lot of amazing places in your travels.
I also enjoy woodworking as a hobby, although I don’t ever have time to make anything. What kinds of projects are you going to work on when you go back home? I think my next project will be making large scrabble tiles to create a family wall in my entryway.
Have a great semester and good luck in your adventures!
Wow, I didn't know that Aviation Pro-Pilot was a major. That's really cool. What got you interested in flying? Do you have a favorite type / kind of plane to fly? I feel like that is kind of a sumb question but I've never known any pilots before and was curious. Also, why American Airlines? For about a year and a half I worked for Southwest Airlines in their contact center. The job was mind numbingly boring but we got the non-rev. (i.e. non reservation, aka stand-by) flight benefits. I only used them twice: 1) flying to our training orientation in Dallas and 2) flying to visit my folks in Florida. I'm not a huge fan of airports, so adding flying stand-by was a bit more than my nerves could take.
ReplyDeleteDavid being an Aviation Pro-Pilot major seems so fun! I love to fly and would really enjoy being in an airplane everyday as I'm sure you do too! You have very interesting and diverse hobbies. I also love to cook and try to as often as I can. I would love to get into metal and wood work but I can see how that would be difficult to do in a small apartment. I wish you the best of luck with your career as a pilot!
ReplyDeleteHey David! Being a Pilot seems like such an amazing and fun major! I'm sure it's been a ton of work to get to this point but I hope it is worth it and you get to fly with American Airlines! Austria and Germany both sound really cool to visit and hopefully you get some free time to visit soon!
ReplyDeleteHi David! I’m gonna go ahead and echo a few of the other comments here and say how cool I think your major is! I genuinely did not know that Aviation Pro-Pilot was a major, so that’s very neat to hear! Based on this post, your life sounds very exciting. Congratulations on 800 hours by the way and best of luck to you this semester!
ReplyDeleteHey David! I find it very interesting that you are majoring in Aviation Pro-Pilot and that you get to fly planes everyday! Good luck to you after graduating this winter and hope you get to fly to many different places. This is honestly a great opportunity to travel and go places you have never been before. I wish you the best!
ReplyDeleteHi David! Aviation, wow! As someone who has never been in a plane nor even stepped into an airport in all my 20-something years, your experience of not only having been in a plane but piloting one is something beyond the realm of what I can even imagine! I do know a couple pilots though, one of which was a fighter pilot who taught me the little bit I know about what it must be like to be in your position when flying! He was obsessed with the movie Top Gun, I wonder if you're familiar? I bet you're asked all the time if this movie is your favorite. Well that or "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles." Also, what cool hobbies! It seems like you like very hands-on activities given your interests. Maybe this following maps/recipes/building instructions will serve you in a unique way when approaching the Indian Epics... what we do in this class isn't much different than following a map or recipe to build your own story!
ReplyDeleteHey David! Congrats on graduating so soon, you've (almost) made it! I'll be graduating in May myself, pretty exciting times. Piloting sounds incredible, I hope your job is everything you hope it'll be and more. What kind of classes did you have to take for Aviation? How did you get into this field? I hope this class, being so outside your major, is as fun and different for you as it is for me! (I'm studying engineering).
ReplyDeleteHi, David! Your degree sounds super awesome. That is so cool that you got to fly the defensive coordinator! It sounds like your set to start on a really exciting career path. That is awesome that you have so many hobbies too. Cooking is so much fun! Do you have any go-to recipes that you really want to try? Your travel aspirations sound really cool too! Best of luck with all of that!
ReplyDeleteHey David! I think becoming a pilot sounds awesome! Which defensive coordinator did you get to fly? Alex Grinch or Mike Stoops (officially fired 1 year, and 6 days ago, but who's counting)? Alex Grinch seems like an interesting person to meet. Carpentry and metal working are a ton of fun, it'll be nice for you to be able to do them again. Congrats on having the job lined up for when you graduate!
ReplyDeleteHi David, nice to meet you. Like everyone has said, I think aviation is a super cool degree as you are able to fly to any destination hopefully whenever. This would be super useful when it comes to me wanting to visit India as my entire family except my parents and brother reside in India. It is nice to meet a fellow senior! I (hopefully) will be graduating in May as well! Cannot wait to see what you end up accomplishing and also, cannot wait to read your stories! Nice to meet you David!
ReplyDeleteHello David,
ReplyDeleteFirst question I have to ask is how long did it take you to become a pilot? Why did you choose American Airlines? I have problems with flying myself. I believe it is just the motion sickness that makes me nauseous. I start to feel queasy and have to close my eyes. I guess somethings are not meant for everyone. But congrats on being so close to being done!
Hi David! Though the power of the randomizer, I am still finding people in this class that I haven't met yet. That's awesome that you're an aviation major. Around here is a great place to do that, since we have Tinker close by. That's really cool that you want to be a pilot, I've always admired the people who can do that. I'd be nervous to fly the plane personally, but that's just me and I'm glad there are people out there who are totally comfortable with it so they can fly me haha. Nice to meet you and good luck on the rest of your semester!
ReplyDeleteHi David! I think that your major is so cool! I have always wanted to learn how to fly (as most humans do, I guess) and it's amazing that you get to make that dream a reality for yourself. Also, that you get to fly important people around is awesome! Good luck finishing up your last semester here at OU, graduating so soon must be both exciting and scary.
ReplyDeleteHi David! How cool! My half-brothers dad was a bush pilot in Alaska, so we grew up around planes some. I bet it was so neat to fly OU's King Air. What a wide array of hobbies! It sounds like you can definitely take care of yourself pretty well. I love carpentry but suck at it. I have been working on trying to learn. I could only dream of metal working that is definitely over my head. Good luck and congrats on finishing up!
ReplyDeleteHey David!
ReplyDeleteThat is awesome that you get to fly almost everyday. That sounds a lot more exciting than my days normally go. Rather than sitting in a classroom, sitting in the library, and sitting at home, you get to sit in a plane and fly over Norman. Very jealous. That is so cool that you get to start flying for an airline soon. it sounds like you have your life way more planned out than I.