Job Shadow

Justin Moody
Job Shadow
CLSS 2100
December 12, 2011

What an exciting assignment. Today I had the opportunity to go with my landlord and fly in his airplane with him. It was quite expensive to do this Job Shadow but well worth it. Dave Stewart Is self employed as a part time flight instructor in Spanish Fork. I had many more than 8 questions for him so Ill emphasize on the most important questions I chose to ask him.
• How did this type of work interest you and how did you get started?
Dave’s interest in the aviation field started as a young child as it does with many young children. He agreed that there aren’t many kids who don’t like airplanes. Dave set a goal to get his Private pilot’s license right after he graduated high school and he did get his rating from UVU at the age of 18.
• What are the most important personal satisfactions and dissatisfactions connected with your occupation? What part of this job do you personally find most satisfying? Most challenging? What do you like and not like about working in this industry?
Dave loves his freedom and can’t get enough flying in, as an instructor it allows him to fly more often without the extra expense. Getting paid to fly is always better than paying! Not often but at times he finds his frustration with students dissatisfying, everybody learns at a different pace and some just need a bit more attention. The most challenging situations he finds are new pilots that want to advance to quickly. He loves the beautiful scenery related to the career and doesn’t like bad weather.
• Can you suggest some ways a student could obtain this necessary experience?
Dave suggested that seeking a degree at UVU is a good method but not the method he used. Dave did start and get his first rating from UVU but did not finish a degree. He stated that you have to choose a level at which you want to fly at. If it is one that would be a career pilot then a degree is should be definitely considered. He knew for himself that he just wanted to fly recreationally and decided it is much cheaper to gain your ratings from a private instructor.
• What are the various jobs in this field or organization?
As a flight instructor he does have 4 different ratings which are Private pilot, instrument, CFI, and commercial 1. With these certifications he can crop dust, fly small cargo in a class 1 or 2 airplane, Bush pilot, and even own his own tour guide company.
• Do you find your job exciting or boring? Why?
Dave loves his job and finds it very exciting. He experiences emotions of fun, excitement, and fear often in flight.
• Why do customers choose this company?
Dave’s customers choose his company because he has a very safe record and over 2,800 hours logged as a flight instructor.
• Why did you decide to start for your company?
Dave was seeking more time in the airplane. Fuel cost and maintenance limit the time he could afford to fly. Flight instructing doesn’t pay a whole lot but it does pay for the fuel and offset some of the maintenance cost for his airplane.
• How does a person progress in your field? What is a typical career path in this field or organization?
Dave says there is only one way to progress in aviation aside from being lucky enough to get the interview. Fly a lot and gain hours. When companies choose their employees they interview many and the amount of experience validated by flight hours is a strong consideration. Dave also says if you have the commercial ratings to volunteer to fly right seat as copilot as much as possible. This doesn’t really pay a whole lot but if you want to fly left seat and make the big buck you have to be willing to put in the time.
This job shadow was helpful. I really do desire to fly but after flying with Dave I was reconfirmed on why I choose to change my emphasis to administration. With an administration degree I can still get my ratings. As a commercial pilot I am limited to flying. With the expense to gain hours and the large numbers of commercial pilots I just feel I would be making a mistake following my first choice career in aviation.