By 8 pm, I could vaguely see the St Louis Arch in the distance. As the "Gateway Arch," a symbol of American expansion into the western frontier became larger in my windshield, I hurriedly reached up to my phone mounted on my windshield so it could capture the rather majestic view of the tallest monument in the United States. Not long after setting up the camera, the city of St Louis became distinctly visible behind the Arch as the interstate began to twist and turn down toward the mighty Mississippi River. The river was larger than I remembered it being when I crossed through the city on my way to California following graduation from USAFA and I caught myself staring in awe at the Arch on the west bank.
It was just then that I heard my phone screaming at me to exit. Cruising in the left lane, I watched my exit whiz by and shrugged while I waited for Google to fix my silly mistake. The next exit was only a half mile ahead and as I turned another tight turn away from the Arch toward the south side of the city, bright red lights lit up my car. It was there that I hit gridlock. I swore to myself for missing my turn as I sat in traffic for the next hour. After working my way through the jam, I arrived at my hotel to check-in only to find out that I didn't have a room. I felt a slight panic and just stared at the lady behind the desk. "I'm sorry, I don't understand. This is the hotel for Trans States, right?" She replied in the affirmative but didn't have a reservation for me on file. It had been a long two days and I didn't feel like arguing so I pulled out my credit card so I could get some rest before the long day ahead of me on Monday.
I laid in my bed that night, heart racing. I couldn't help but feel slightly overwhelmed by the rapid succession of the events of the week. Then, after a few quick thoughts, I drifted to sleep.
****
At 6 am, I found myself wide-awake in bed, staring at the ceiling. The shuttle to Trans States left at 7:30 but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get back to sleep. After quickly showering and more ceiling staring, I walked down to the lobby where I bumped into some of the other pilots anxiously awaiting the van. I originally planned on driving myself, but decided against it once I started talking to some of guys in my class.
After a few exchanges of "heys" and "how are yas," all 12 of us piled into the van and rode in silence the entirety of the 5 minute drive to the building. I wasn't sure what the facility looked like since the interview was held at the simulator facility owned by a private organization. The classroom training would be held in the "headquarters" building for Trans States Holdings.
As a brief detour, Trans States Holdings owns 3 different airlines (Go Jets Airlines, Trans States Airlines, and Compass Airlines). As we rounded a turn, a large, 4-story, red brick building sat on top of a hill overlooking the St Louis Lambert International Airport. Built in the 1980s as a training facility for TWA, it looked like little had changed since it was originally built. The windows were nothing more than long vertical slices spaced far apart across the front of the building. As I walked into the lobby, four 8 foot long replicas of the various airplanes Trans States Holdings owns sit atop a sleek looking stand. After signing in as a visitor and given badges, we are escorted to our classroom where we will spend the next 5 weeks.
One of the first things we did was introduce ourselves and briefly explain how we ended up here in training. Much to my surprise, the experience in my class ranges from a 63 year old Air Force Academy graduate to a 22 year old recent college graduate with many different types of experiences in between. I was the second to introduce myself and as I listened to the last 10 people tell a brief history, I couldn't help but chuckle.
One-by-one, each person stood up and told a story. Most had stories of heartbreak and disappointment revolving around either 9/11 or the Great Recession of 2008. One person was furloughed; another's airline shutdown and he was so bitter he left aviation completely for a year. A gentleman in his late 40s flew a cell phone mogul around and the man decided this year to give it up. He sold his airplane and, subsequently, needed to let his pilot go. The USAFA grad bounced in and out of airline aviation in the 90s but ended up taking a lucrative job overseas teaching other countries how to fly their new F-16s. Each person's story was so incredibly unique, but in some weird way, each of them were all the same. They could all be summed up by saying, "I was hired and something happened. I wanted to give it up but just couldn't. I love flying too much. So here I am." Every single person in the classroom, with the exception of the two people fresh out of college had gone through significant setbacks, frustrations, and financial hardship but, no matter how hard they tried, found themselves back in the game. It sounded surprisingly like a support group meeting. "Hi. My name is Chris and I am addicted to flying."
As a whole, the next two weeks went relatively smoothly. Of course, there are many stories I am going to tell over the next few weeks but, in order to save you all from reading a mini-novel, I will keep this dedicated to the classroom only.
The fire hose was only partially opened as I absorbed new regulation after new regulation. As it was all new and mostly common sense, the new information stuck. It was like adding water to a dry sponge. I have yearned for years to get to this point, to learn about professional aviation and my brain was up to the task. My memory, often times akin to a goldfish, quickly digested and cemented the information in an easily accessible location. In fact, on Wednesday, we took our first 100 question test over the information presented over the preceding week and a half, and I scored a 98%. It should've been a 99% had I gone with my instinct on one question, but alas, 98% will have to suffice. I guess I'll have to spend more time in the coffee shop.
Week 3 begins tomorrow and we will start delving into the more complicated topics of airplane systems. Jet engines, electrical systems, pressurization, and hydraulics. From everyone I've talked to, this will be challenging. One of my friends is at another airline, started the same day as I did and will be flying the same airplane. He said to me after day one of systems, "shit just got real." Nothing like a little foreshadowing for my long 3-day weekend.
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