I’m not a pilot but the opportunity to be one was offered to me not one time but two. The first was a direct commission as a full Lieutenant in the USCG as a maintenance officer with the option of attending flight school. The second was a direct commission in the North Carolina Army National Guard as a maintenance officer on helicopters and a slot in flight school with an option to go into the US Army aviation program. It may sound foolish but I turned both opportunities down. However my professional life has not been dull. I was a techrep on helicopters for four years, I was a manager of product support on helicopters for three years and I worked in an engineering function on what at the time was state of the art. That included the Cheyenne, the Apache, the A-129, the EH-101 and the V-22. In the fixed wing arena I worked on the Panavia Tornado, the A-310, the FD-728, the Bombardier challenger 604, the Bombardier Regional Jet, the A340, the 767-400-ER, the F-16 and right now I am working on the engine upgrade for the Gulfstream G-IVX. On the non-aviation side I have worked on ballistic missiles, spacecraft, ships (two types) and heavy industrial equipment used to make medicines and animal feed. (The smells on this job were terrible).
My work has taken me to Iran (3 years), Germany (4 years), Italy (3+ years) and Holland (13 months) as well as to England, France and Yugoslavia.
The money is excellent and right now I sit at my computer at home doing my job.
