If I were going to discuss all the details of my personal life, with relationships, during this career building phase, I could post this song at several stages and I would be on both sides of it. After the divorce, I decided I needed to be ready to move anywhere in the world, at any time to get an appropriate job in aviation. I tried to explain that situation in any relationship. I don't think I was always successful in maintaining clarity on that, but leaving Atlanta was not as tough as other moves.
I had been dating a young lady who worked at Flight International. In fact, she was the first person I talked to when I called to enroll in the school. We had become friends and were hanging out together as friends and it just kind of moved into the dating phase. She knew and understood the commitment to career that we all had when we came to the school or even to work there as instructors and there were no tears when I left.
Pilot hiring by the airlines runs hot and cold. It was hot when I first went to Atlanta, but was cooling down after a year. I was able to work steadily and make some money. Eventually, the number of students coming in the door dwindled. This was another deal where I got paid for how much work I did, you know, the American way. The more I worked, the more I made. I put out the word that I was looking for a job. I wanted to work as a pilot for an airline, but no one was calling.
The guys who convinced me to leave Graham Aviation and get an engineer rating, Dan Wylie and his dad, J.B. told me that USAir was looking for a ground school instructor. I sent a resume and was called for an interview. I took some time off and drove to Pittsburgh for the interview. I spent some time hanging out with my parents and brother and saw all my friends.
At the interview, I met Ron, the manager of the ground school, and Jim and Rich, who were the managers of the programs for the BAC 1-11 and DC-9, respectively. They hired me to work on the BAC. I think I might have been a little too much for Rich.
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