Aviation career opportunities opening up, says local flight instructor
Shell Knob resident, Justin Richmond, owner/operator of EAS Flight Training, shifted from a career in "Hamburger-ology" to one in aviation some 30 years ago. Above, he poses outside his hangar at the Monett Municipal Airport.
Photo by Chuck Nickle Photography. |
Shown above, teenage pilot Hans Graybill (left) and his pilot-in-training brother , Arthur Graybill (right), pose beside their family's 1968 Cessna 150 after returning from a flight to the Grand Canyon in February, 2020. Submitted photo.
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July 14, 2021
Sheila Harris
A career in aviation, or simply flying an airplane as a hobby, has the reputation of being something one can only dream about. That’s not always the case, a fact confirmed by area pilots who subscribed to the adage, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” Or, in other words, “One flight and you’ll be hooked.”
Justin Richmond, of Shell Knob, was first bitten by the aviation bug when he worked as the manager for the Monett and Aurora McDonald’s restaurants some 30 years ago.
“I walked through the lobby in the Aurora McDonald’s one evening as I was headed for home,” Richmond said, “and one of my young employees was sitting there looking worried. When I asked him if I could help him with something, he said, yes, he needed a ride to the airport for his flight lesson. I was floored. I’d never even been up in a small airplane before, and here was this kid much younger than me taking flight lessons. I said, ‘Let’s go.’”
Richmond was given a ride in an old Cessna 150 at the airport that night, all the incentive he needed to begin flight lessons of his own. With much perseverance, those lessons eventually led to his management of the Aurora Airport, a position which included flight instruction and aircraft maintenance experience.
Richmond has since spread his geographical wings and, as owner of EAS Flight Training, provides flight instruction and aircraft maintenance at airport locations in Monett and Fayetteville, Arkansas, in addition to Aurora. He also provides pilot services for clients who need someone to fly their planes.
Another local pilot bitten some 40 years ago by the aviation bug is Howard Frazier, manager of the Monett Municipal Airport.
“When I worked at Barry County Lumber in Cassville years ago, Max Fields offered to give me a ride in his plane,” Frazier said. “I took him up on it. I thought, ‘Hey, this is pretty neat,’ and I started working toward getting my pilot certification and various ratings afterward, a little at a time.”
Although Frazier now has a pilot certificate with multiple ratings (for different levels of expertise) under his belt, he opted not to pursue a career in aviation when he was younger.
“I had just started a family and didn’t want to be away from home,” he said. “Plus, there was a lot of competition for aviation jobs when I started flying in 1981. A lot of pilot positions had been filled by veterans who were home from Vietnam.”
More recently, Wilbur Graybill, of rural Purdy, was smitten after his first-ever flight in his neighbor’s small airplane.
“I went home and downloaded a flight-simulator app to my home computer and began to learn to fly in the privacy of my own home,” Graybill said.
Soon afterward, he bought a small, 1968 Cessna 150 airplane and began flight lessons at the Aurora Airport in real-time. He was followed swiftly by his two oldest (then teenage) sons, Hans and Arthur, who set off shoulder-to-shoulder a little over a year ago on a cross-country venture from Monett to the Grand Canyon in the compact cabin of the Cessna. It was the first time they’d been away from home.
None of the Graybills have plans to pursue a career in aviation, although the field appears to be ripe for one.
Justin Richmond believes that the pilot shortages and aviation career opportunities that were beginning to appear prior to the pandemic will again resurface.
“Prior to the 2020 pandemic, our new flight instruction students were predominantly between the ages of 16 and 25,” he said. “During the pandemic, most of the new starts were in the 40 - 50 age-range.
“I expect that to change again, though, as career opportunities open back up,” Richmond added.
In spite of what looks to be a favorable climate for budding aviators, retired commercial pilot Mark Ingram, of Butterfield, warns beginners not to expect an easy path to that target, especially if one is pursuing a career with an airline.
“Multiple ratings are needed, and each one requires accumulating hours of flight time before it can be attained.”
According to its website, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requires a minimum of 1,500 hours of active flight-time before a pilot can apply for an Airline Transport Pilot Certificate (ATP), which is needed to work as a captain or first officer for a commercial airline. In addition to the ATP certification, education requirements must be met.
“At one point, when the competition was fierce, airlines wanted their pilots to have a bachelor’s degree,” Ingram said, “although that’s been known to vary, depending on a company’s need for pilots. There’s a supply-and-demand principal involved.
“There are other types of aviation careers which require fewer hours of flight-time and education, though,” he said, “so if you’re not interested in working for a commercial airline, there are plenty of other aviation opportunities out there.”
Ingram, who worked his way through college by giving flight lessons, said, not only did the money pay for his college, the hours he put into instruction counted toward his total active hours of flight time.
“A lot of pilots accumulate flight-hours by giving lessons to other people,” he said.
An aviation career, or flying as a hobby, begins with that first flight lesson. The rest can follow at one’s own pace.
For information about taking lessons, visit https://www.easflighttraining.com.
Sheila Harris
A career in aviation, or simply flying an airplane as a hobby, has the reputation of being something one can only dream about. That’s not always the case, a fact confirmed by area pilots who subscribed to the adage, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” Or, in other words, “One flight and you’ll be hooked.”
Justin Richmond, of Shell Knob, was first bitten by the aviation bug when he worked as the manager for the Monett and Aurora McDonald’s restaurants some 30 years ago.
“I walked through the lobby in the Aurora McDonald’s one evening as I was headed for home,” Richmond said, “and one of my young employees was sitting there looking worried. When I asked him if I could help him with something, he said, yes, he needed a ride to the airport for his flight lesson. I was floored. I’d never even been up in a small airplane before, and here was this kid much younger than me taking flight lessons. I said, ‘Let’s go.’”
Richmond was given a ride in an old Cessna 150 at the airport that night, all the incentive he needed to begin flight lessons of his own. With much perseverance, those lessons eventually led to his management of the Aurora Airport, a position which included flight instruction and aircraft maintenance experience.
Richmond has since spread his geographical wings and, as owner of EAS Flight Training, provides flight instruction and aircraft maintenance at airport locations in Monett and Fayetteville, Arkansas, in addition to Aurora. He also provides pilot services for clients who need someone to fly their planes.
Another local pilot bitten some 40 years ago by the aviation bug is Howard Frazier, manager of the Monett Municipal Airport.
“When I worked at Barry County Lumber in Cassville years ago, Max Fields offered to give me a ride in his plane,” Frazier said. “I took him up on it. I thought, ‘Hey, this is pretty neat,’ and I started working toward getting my pilot certification and various ratings afterward, a little at a time.”
Although Frazier now has a pilot certificate with multiple ratings (for different levels of expertise) under his belt, he opted not to pursue a career in aviation when he was younger.
“I had just started a family and didn’t want to be away from home,” he said. “Plus, there was a lot of competition for aviation jobs when I started flying in 1981. A lot of pilot positions had been filled by veterans who were home from Vietnam.”
More recently, Wilbur Graybill, of rural Purdy, was smitten after his first-ever flight in his neighbor’s small airplane.
“I went home and downloaded a flight-simulator app to my home computer and began to learn to fly in the privacy of my own home,” Graybill said.
Soon afterward, he bought a small, 1968 Cessna 150 airplane and began flight lessons at the Aurora Airport in real-time. He was followed swiftly by his two oldest (then teenage) sons, Hans and Arthur, who set off shoulder-to-shoulder a little over a year ago on a cross-country venture from Monett to the Grand Canyon in the compact cabin of the Cessna. It was the first time they’d been away from home.
None of the Graybills have plans to pursue a career in aviation, although the field appears to be ripe for one.
Justin Richmond believes that the pilot shortages and aviation career opportunities that were beginning to appear prior to the pandemic will again resurface.
“Prior to the 2020 pandemic, our new flight instruction students were predominantly between the ages of 16 and 25,” he said. “During the pandemic, most of the new starts were in the 40 - 50 age-range.
“I expect that to change again, though, as career opportunities open back up,” Richmond added.
In spite of what looks to be a favorable climate for budding aviators, retired commercial pilot Mark Ingram, of Butterfield, warns beginners not to expect an easy path to that target, especially if one is pursuing a career with an airline.
“Multiple ratings are needed, and each one requires accumulating hours of flight time before it can be attained.”
According to its website, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requires a minimum of 1,500 hours of active flight-time before a pilot can apply for an Airline Transport Pilot Certificate (ATP), which is needed to work as a captain or first officer for a commercial airline. In addition to the ATP certification, education requirements must be met.
“At one point, when the competition was fierce, airlines wanted their pilots to have a bachelor’s degree,” Ingram said, “although that’s been known to vary, depending on a company’s need for pilots. There’s a supply-and-demand principal involved.
“There are other types of aviation careers which require fewer hours of flight-time and education, though,” he said, “so if you’re not interested in working for a commercial airline, there are plenty of other aviation opportunities out there.”
Ingram, who worked his way through college by giving flight lessons, said, not only did the money pay for his college, the hours he put into instruction counted toward his total active hours of flight time.
“A lot of pilots accumulate flight-hours by giving lessons to other people,” he said.
An aviation career, or flying as a hobby, begins with that first flight lesson. The rest can follow at one’s own pace.
For information about taking lessons, visit https://www.easflighttraining.com.