A nice man who was a 3 holer (small) Captain for Eastern who needed a seat filled. He had a small school called TailDraggers and had given me a basic aerobatic course and needed an instructor for a new contract he had just got with an Air Academy who had decided the cadets needed some air experience.
The ink was still wet on my licence but he needed someone now and I hadn't crashed his Citabria so that was it. That allowed me to save for the II which was my passport to the place where it really hummed, the red diamond 'sausage factory' across the field.
When I finaly got there, I built hours with a vengence. The first student came at 6:30 for briefing for the 7:00 start. Lunch was a tin of Hormole franks in beans for 50 cents heated in the micro, or a plastic cheese sandwich for 75 cents, hey it was quick, cheap, besides there was a student waiting to go.
Loved Instructing, one learned a huge ammount from teaching others. Did wonder if I was developing an ulcer though, teaching primary students landings is an interesting experience day after day and you have to allow them to make mistakes,the trick was, knowing when to stop letting them make mistakes. While we are on landings, fun also when one was in a Lake Amphib, where you have a tractor on the roof and when you pull the power off the nose rises. This is always a good one because the instictive thing for the new student on them, is to pull back when they pull the power off, and unless you were ready could result in no airspeed at an ambarrasing attitude and altitude.
Got lots of hours very quickly, Vietnam vets with GI benefits were flooding into the market. It was a great time with great memories and it was the start of an interesting and fascinating flying career. It was always tough to get a job, although being in the right place at the right time is always a possibility. We pay our dues to the profession in our various ways
Getting that first job is part of the job, it goes with the life you have chosen. In this uncertain world we live in it is a job that is full of the constantly changing, and that's part of it too. It's a magical thing being a pilot, and a pleasure that's immensley rewarding. If you are at the bottom of the ladder it's not always an easy climb but one that you will hopefully never regret.
It gives me a thrill as electric and as exciting as the Solent flying boat I was put on when I was about three. The memory of watching that float through the spray lift out of the lake and as we took off with the water streaming of it is as fresh and clear as the take off's I did yesterday, and the feeling of being able to leave the earth behind and climb into that azure sky above the clouds is as powerful a drug as it ever was the first time.
Yes, the first one is a tough one and all the more rewarding when it does come. It's worth the struggle and the sweat because you will know how hard it was to get, and you will remember it with pride. So whether it's instructing or para dropping, crop spraying or even getting hired by an airline may it be as pleasurable and rewarding for you as my first job was for me.