I still remember how it felt when Jeff came home from the interview with American Eagle; we were cautiously excited for the chance to interview with a commercial airline, and simultaneously disappointed it wasn’t the one we’d hoped for.   But, after talking with Jeff, he told me that because he wasn’t sure he wanted to work for American, he went into the interview relatively calm.  He didn’t feel he had anything to lose.   We now both recognize God’s goodness in this; when you don’t feel like the stakes are high, you can relax a little easier in the process.

And that’s exactly what happened.

So, after twenty two months of school, flight training and instructing, two separate academy’s, multiple odd jobs, Jeff was finally ready to move into the interview process with American Eagle. I want to offer a humble brag about my husband here, he finished flight school at Regional faster than anyone had ever finished before. Literally broke all of their records.  This is not only because of his amazing work ethic, but also a testament to how desperate we were; it’s amazing what one can accomplish when you really don’t have a choice.  

The interview process involved multiple steps.  The first was the formal conversation he’d already had at the school and because of how well he did there, he was sent to Dallas, TX for further “tests” to see if he would qualify for a job offer as a commercial airline pilot.  So, this was it.  His moment.  It wasn’t the place he thought he wanted to be, but, he was determined to do his best to keep his options open.  The first test was a psychomotor skills test.   If you’re like me, you might be saying, “a what test?”   I looked it up for us, let me give you the definition from the internet. 

“In short, a psychomotor skills test evaluates how well someone can integrate mental and physical processes to carry out specific tasks efficiently and accurately.”

(I had to ask Google) What types of things qualify as a psychomotor skill? The number one answer was typing.   Fun fact, Jeff is an AMAZING typist.  Seriously, long before pilot was even on the radar (pun intended ha!) he was typing a hundred words a minute.  He took a typing class in middle school, back before there were electric typewriters, then, in high school,  he took a Word processing class; he would type extra work for the teacher because he was usually done before anyone else, and then he helped with the typing at his mom’s business.   This seems small, maybe, but it makes the point that long before Jeff had any idea that he would fly airplanes, God already had him in training.  How sweet is that?  It gives me hope in the most unexciting of times that my experiences, which seem very unimportant and mundane, are, in fact, preparing me for what lies ahead.  Nothing is wasted.

Jeff loved the psychomotor skills test.  He wanted it to go longer, he said if felt like a video game.  Ha!  But, sadly, not everyone had the same experience.  The pilots brought in to be interviewed were put into groups called a “class.”  So, in Jeff’s class, not everyone made it out of the psychomotor skills test.  And, this continued throughout the steps of the interview process, with each new challenge, some would pass and move to the next part of the interview and others would pack their belongings and head home.   You can imagine how mentally taxing it would be to watch hopeful men and women who’d worked so hard to get to this point, not make it. 

After the psychomotor skills test came the flight simulator.   This was a time for the candidates to be put behind the yoke of a large aircraft, or the simulation of one, to test them to see if they could handle it.  Remember, until now all their flying had been in Cessnas or small planes.   My husband loved this test, this man has never met a vehicle of any kind he didn’t love to drive, and this love of anything that goes fast quickly spilled over into the flight deck.   It was an amazing experience to be the one flying the multi thousand pound flying tube, and going hundreds of miles an hour was a bonus.   So far, he was really enjoying the interview process!

The final step was an extensive physical.  They took all sorts of tests and told him the results would come in the mail.   And, with the final step behind him, he got on a plane and flew back to Sanford where I was waiting with baited breath.   Jeff went back to instructing and kept hoping and praying that Air Wisconsin would show up at the school for interviews.   But, that never happened.  He did, however, receive a letter in the mail within a couple of weeks that he’d passed the physical.

And then it happened.

Jeff received a formal invitation to join the American Airlines family. 

I wish I could adequately describe how we felt.  It was exactly what we’d been working for, but it was the wrong airline.  But, since American was the ONLY airline to come to the school for interviews, we honestly felt we had no choice.   

We said YES!

So many things happened over the following weeks in preparation for his debut in the commercial airline industry, but I’ll save those stories for another day.  I want to enjoy this moment with you, after all of our weeks together, it was the moment we’d been praying for and hoping for and working so hard for.  We were finally officially a pilot family. 

We did it!

HE did it!

Jeff would fly to Dallas for extensive training, you can’t imagine how much there is to learn before you fly the big planes.  He would be pushed beyond what he thought he could bear and even farther in flight training, but he never once complained.   Seriously, he never did.  I did, for sure, but all he ever did was thank the Lord for the opportunity, he was amazed he’d had the chance. 

God made the dreams of a little boy, who used to ride his bike for miles across town to watch airplanes, come true.  The path he took wasn’t like others, and there’s no regret in that, this path landed him where he was supposed to be…

flying airplanes and living his happy, hard won, sometimes crazy unconventional life.