Hannah - Biography

Hello, I’m writing this bio from my hotel room after my first few days at Indoc for my first Charter Jet job. It’s been a blur the last 23 months getting here but let’s back up to where this all started…

I was born in to an aviation family, my mom being a United Flight attendant and my dad, a United pilot (yes, they met on the job in storybook fashion). Growing up I was surrounded by pilots, my Uncle flying for Delta, my grandfather sharing his stories after a nearly 30 year career at United and the many airline families we hung out with regularly. I often traveled on trips with my Dad and I can still remember to this day the chills I got when I heard my Dad over the PA for the first time as he said, “This is your captain speaking.”

Although I loved being a part of the aviation family through my Dad, I unfortunately never realized that life could be my own…at least, not until much later.

I was recruited to the University of Miami (FL) on a rowing scholarship. I lived a busy life as a student athlete majoring in Broadcast Journalism. I transferred and later graduated from the University of Iowa with a BS in Mass Communications.

Chasing the sunny skies and sandy beaches, I took my first job as a News Producer at a small local tv station in San Luis Obispo, CA and a year later moved to San Diego for a position producing the morning newscasts for NBC San Diego. I loved the rush of live television but outside of the one-hour a day live broadcast, it wasn’t the life I’d imagined for myself. So, I went back to the drawing board. Soon I realized, the life of a pilot was what I was yearning for this whole time (and boy was my dad grinning ear to ear when I came to this conclusion). A third generation pilot in the making!

From this point, I knew what I wanted and I didn’t want to waste one more day to start this new journey. I quit my job, moved back to my hometown in Charlotte, NC and began at ATP in Concord, NC. 9 months later I graduated with all my certificates and begin instructing with ATP to build my hours. I enrolled in nearly every cadet program and ended up choosing Skywest. Unfortunately the COVID pandemic disrupted hiring at most regionals so it was time for a new game plan. I decided to pursue a Part 135 Charter Operation and accepted a job as a First Officer at FlyExclusive, on the Citation CJ fleet.

I know what the airline life is all about watching so many people I love live it, but the Part 135 Charter world remained a mystery…a path less traveled in my family. Now, I have the pleasure of exploring it, sharing it with you all and providing some insight in to a whole side of aviation that often gets overlooked.

So if you have any questions about going through the ATP program from a zero time student to a 1500 hour CFI, I’m here! If you have any questions about the Part 135 Charter side of aviation, I’m here! And any ladies out there thinking about pursuing this career and want a female perspective, I’m your girl!

Looking forward to answering any and all questions you have!

Thanks!
-Hannah

57 Likes

So its been 7 months since I posted this bio and I have a bit of an update… I’m headed to Skywest! My time in the 135 world has been nothing short of an adventure. I was able to get my first jet type and my ATP certificate during a global pandemic. I logged 300 hours of turbine time, landed in nearly 30 states and 3 countries. I was left seat authorized and just shy of a Captain upgrade, but my dream has always been to fly for the airlines. I feel more prepared headed in to initial training on the CRJ than I would have been straight out of flight instructing. I also have a CJ type rating in case of future furloughs. For now, I’m enjoying a week off and a little vacation on the beach before I start class next week.
-Hannah

32 Likes

Hello everyone! I’m back :slight_smile:
It has been a wild two months going through an Initial 121 training program with SkyWest Airlines but I’m happy to say I made it! I can explain a little about the training footprint and if anyone has questions or wants more details feel free to send them my way!

Indoc
I started Indoc virtually on July 26th on the CRJ. I had 50 classmates (47 guys, me and 2 other girls) with all different stories of how they got to Skywest after a crazy pandemic year, but in short we were all happy to be there. In 4 short days we covered the whole FOM (Flight operations manual). One day was dedicated for leadership/CRM training and on day 6 was the first validation testing our knowledge on the FOM and the Op Specs. The validations are used as checkpoints. Pass and continue on. We finished on a Tuesday and had to the following Monday to finish all the System CBTs and get to Salt Lake City for ground training.

Ground School
Ground school was focused on the SOPM (Standard Operating Procedures Manual), basically how we operate all phases of flight from preflight to shutdown. In the morning session we had FMS lab and the Matrix (learning our flows on touch screen cockpits). In the afternoon was classroom sessions. One day was dedicated to emergency training, opening the overwing exits, using the fire extinguishers and going out the cockpit escape hatch… which was all was pretty fun. On days 8, 9 and 10 of ground school was three days of consecutive validations: FMS, Flows and ground validation (written exam). The FMS validation mirrored a typical day on the line providing 25 mins from receiving the pre-departure clearance and the weather to getting the cockpit ready: loading in frequencies, programming the “box” (FMS), computing a manual manifest and loading the takeoff data. The Flow validation consisted of a captain seat sub sitting in with you and asking for three randomized flows to perform from any phase of flight. The ground validation was a written exam covering all topics in the SOPM. It was a huge relief to graduate ground school and get my wings.

Procedures Training
My sim partner and I had one day off and we jumped right in to the next phase of training: Procedures. This included an upgraded version of the cockpit. Still all touch screen and fixed base but we had thrust levers, yokes and rudder pedals and we actually got to fly it. This phase was incredibly quick, just 3 days putting it all together in preparation for sims. We flew gate to gate trips with different kind of malfunctions from start malfunctions, MX items discovered at different phases of flight and abnormal ATC requests. This was more CRM, teaching us how to prioritize when to do things and how based on the SOPM. On day 4 we had… you guessed it, a procedures validation! Last one in Salt Lake City! After completion of that, my class split off into four locations for sim training: Salt Lake City, Denver, Cincinnati and Atlanta. I was lucky enough to get Atlanta and a few days off to rest before a short drive from Charlotte to start sims the following week.

SIMS
Sim training is broken down in to two stages: Maneuvers and LOFTS. Maneuvers is first and consists of 6, 4 hr sessions covering all sorts of things: Takeoffs and Landings, Crosswind takeoffs, Crosswind landings, Windshear, EGPWS escape maneuvers, TCAS RAs, Stalls to the shaker and the pusher, Upset Recovery, Engine failures at V1 and of course all the different kinds of approaches Cat I and Cat II ILS, GPS Non-precision, VOR circle to land and missed approaches in all sorts of configurations. Plus LOTS of malfunctions. On day 7 was the maneuvers validation (regarded as the most difficult and most notorious for failures). It consisted of a 2 hour session with a very efficient profile that covered pretty much everything I just explained above except a few things. When my sim partner and I came out of that victorious, that was a huge relief. We relaxed for one day before heading in to the final push: LOFTS. Lofts stand for Line Oriented Flight Training, basically putting it all together. Gate to gate flights with a few malfunctions sprinkled along the way. This is where my prior jet and 135 experience helped me quite a bit. Jet start malfunctions, MX write ups, deferrals and MEL procedures plus difficult SIDs and STARs with crossing restrictions and speed restrictions were all things I had seen and practiced doing the last year flying with Flyexclusive. My classmates coming from 1500 hours in a Cessna struggled a lot more. Many with little to no experience flying a departure or arrival procedure at all. I recommend for anyone who is reading this to try and get some right seat time in a jet before going to initial 121 training. Even if you can’t log it, the experience you receive flying in the flight levels, working the FMS and flying those SIDs and STARS will help you more than you realize. Anyway, after 3 days of LOFTS (standard day, hot wx ops and cold wx ops) the big day was finally here. The grand finale of a long 2 months of training: the LOE and KV (check ride).

CHECKRIDE DAY
The KV (knowledge validation) is the oral portion that happens before the flight. It was relatively quick and simple covering memory items, limitations and emergency procedures. After that I met the Captain seat sub I’d be flying with and we hopped in the sim. This was again, another gate to gate flight putting it all together. The scenario was a standard turn, so Point A->Point B. The captain flew the first leg so I was being evaluated on my Pilot monitoring duties. Then we switched and I was pilot flying from Point B->Point A. As you can imagine, the flights included a fair share of malfunctions and typically in the midst of already high work load environments. This was it, the time to prove to yourself and show the examiner that you have a mastery of the aircraft, understanding of its systems, applying the SOPM in all phases of flight and using CRM to make good timely decisions. Walking out of that sim session, I had such confidence in my ability in the aircraft and appreciation for all the training that molded me along the way.


Differences Training
After returning home with that newly minted type rating, I had 2 days off before Differences training. At Skywest on the CRJ, we train on the CRJ 200 and the type rating covers all variants including the 700 and 900. So I was legal to fly, however, Skywest adds an additional virtual ground school day and one additional sim session to cover the differences. So back to the books I went, covering systems, memory items and limitations of both the CRJ 700 and 900. The following week, I flew out to St. Louis for the differences sim. Just one maneuvers session covering crosswind takeoffs, crosswind landings, engine failures at v1, etc. The things that feel different with a bigger airplane with bigger engines.

September 21st, I was officially done with Skywest CRJ Initial Training. I am now home anxiously awaiting IOE. As you can imagine, with so much hiring, there is a back log of those who have finished training waiting to go out on IOE. A pretty cool note on the health of hiring at Skywest, I already have 512 people behind me on the seniority list! (*Thats approximately 125 FOs on the CRJ and 125 FOs on the ERJ each month)

I have all my travel benefits active on American, United and Delta and jumpsuit privileges. I’m staying busy doing observation flights from the jump seat and a little bit of fun travel.

I am back full time on the forum as of today, and look forward to hopping back in to the conversation with all of you!
-Hannah

26 Likes

Well time for another update….

I can’t wait to fly the friendly skies for UNITED AIRLINES! :airplane:

I started my first day of ATP January 7th, 2019 with the dream of one day getting hired by United. I wasn’t sure how I would get there. Four years later, after a global pandemic, an adventure in to the 135 world and then a crazy 18 months at the regionals taking on new roles and responsibilities, I can say I’ve made it.

My Grandfather was hired in 1961, my Mother in Feb 1978 and my Father in Feb 1985. 62 years of family history with United and it’s pretty surreal I get to extend that legacy to a third generation.

I’ll be headed to class in Denver is just a few days. I’ll share as much as I can through training. Feel free to ask questions as they arise!

Here’s a summary of my journey here…

Aug 2011-May 2016 Bachelors Degree, Division I Student-Athlete, University of Miami (2011-2013) University of Iowa (2013-2016)
June 2016-Dec 2018 News Producer, NBC Universal

(Started flying)
Jan 2019-August 2019 ACPP PVT-MEI Ratings
Sept 2019-Oct 2020 ATP CFI & Flight Standards Instructor for CLT location (SkyWest Cadet)
Nov 2020- July 2021 FlyExclusive, ATP Certificate and CJ3 PIC Type Rating
July 2021-Feb 2023 SkyWest Airlines, CRJ Type Rating and Pilot Recruitment Team
(Dec 5th 2022- Interview)
(Dec 9th 2022- CJO)
Feb 2023-United Airlines Class Date

-Hannah

24 Likes