Aviation Organizations I Will be a Part of in My Future

As I move ever closer to graduation and leaving EMU in my past, I have begun searching for jobs and paying much closer attention to the industry's hiring trends.  I have talked with as many people who have my degree as will listen.  They have really all told me the same thing: "I wish I wouldn't have gone this route with my career."  That is striking to me because they spent 4 or more years and thousands on a degree and are not happy.  These people have basically told me that I made a poor decision.  One of them works as a ramp agent at Delta, so I understand his pain, but the others I have talked to gave reasons like there are no jobs for this degree, you have to know someone, or other reasons for not being employed in their field.

I don;t feel like they are wrong, but there are reasons they are not happy or haven't been successful.  The biggest problem is that they aren't willing to move.  That is paramount to finding a job in this industry, traveling great distances is inherent to aviation and the job you can get might be across the nation. The other reason I surmise is that they aren't members of the appropriate organizations and don't network hard enough. I don't see myself having the same problems others I have talked to have because I am willing to move, I am networking, and I am a member of the right organization. 

As a future airport employee, I am a member of AAAE.  The AAAE is specifically geared towards airport advocacy and airports alone.  They are the only group in America that does this.  I am currently in the C.M. program they offer which is a huge resume booster.  It looks very good to potential employers to have this in progress or already done.  It shows you care about the industry you are getting into and trying to be proactive about learning.  They have many different tools and services to help their members, such as the training program I am in, conferences all over the country every year about different topics related to airports specifically, and much more. Utilizing them will help me move much closer to obtaining employment at an airport.

Beyond the AAAE, I still plan on becoming a pilot so I plan on joining AOPA.  They are a leading organization that is concerned with pilot issues in the U.S. and they offer a slew of member benefits.  They have student memberships, but I don't feel like I would be able to utilize it enough while I'm not flying.  They offer a magazine, flight planning software, discounts on things like cars from FBO's, financing programs for aircraft, insurance, and much more.  As a member of AOPA, you have access to all these services and become a part of a very large flying community.  I can't imagine being a part of the aviation community and not joining an organization like this.  The benefits are worth the money in both organizations.

Flying Cheap and my career

When I finish school, I foresee myself working for an airport authority for a long time.  There are other potential career paths that I will look into such as ATC and dispatching, but my primary focus is in the executive and administrative world for now.  I want to end up as a director of a department of a large airport authority or as a director of a smaller airport entirely. I need to be somewhere warm and around water. I feel like the perfect airport authority would be someplace like Tampa.  Director of Operations at an airport of that size would be a large responsibility, but by that point in my life, I will be able to handle it.  The operations department is responsible for maintaining compliance with 14 CFR part 139 and part 77 as well as TSR 1542.  As the director of the department, this would all fall under my responsibility.  This includes topics like snow removal, ARFF, airport security, surrounding airspace, airport inspections, etc.

The biggest safety issues for an airport authority include security breaches and the safe operation of aircraft (including the pavement and airspace around the airport).  The way to mitigate these issues is to adhere to the ACM that the airport has developed to most effectively and safely run the airport.  Beyond that, updating that ACM with new techniques and policies as they become viable.

Professionalism encompasses a few concepts.  In this industry professionalism is about working efficiently, going above the requirements to ensure safety, being a good communicator, a good leader, and maintaining high ethical standards.
In the Flying Cheap documentary, a tremendous lack of professionalism was demonstrated.  The two most ridiculous instances of it involved forging paperwork for duty time by a V.P. and also a captain forging a load manifest.

While I move forward with my career, I intend to stay professional; the most important thing to me is to be ethical and to be safe.  In this industry, corner cutting like that shown by Colgan Air is inexcusable.  It doesn't even make sense for a company to operate recklessly in the long run.  In the short run they make more money, in the long run, they have an accident and have their certificate pulled.  I will maintain a clear conscience and keep everyone at my airport safe and I will not encourage blatant rule breaking and endangerment.  That just seems like common sense to me.