>> Hi. My name is Barney Ryan and I'm an airline pilot for Fedex.
And a trip will vary in length from one day to some are as long as two weeks if we're going around the world,
but average length of a trip is about one week, five, six days.
And if you're like me who lives, what we call a commuter, does not live in Memphis,
meaning I need to commute down to Memphis, go on my trip,
and then commute back.
And then another unique thing of Fedex compared to a Delta or American is,
a lot of our flying is at night, so I'll leave,
I will commute down and take off about 10:30 at night,
ride down to Memphis in the back of a Fedex plane,
get off that plane, about two hours later I'm getting my plane ready to start out,
so we takeoff about 3:00 in the morning and head out to wherever I'm going
and then from there I'll be, let's say, to an outlying city.
We'll stay the day in that city and that evening we'll turn around and fly to Memphis.
We'll unload the plane.
They'll reload it up again and I'll turn around and go back to that city or somewhere else
and they'll repeat that for several days in a row.
Airline business is all based on seniority as far as flying,
so the most senior people get to pick first of the routes.
Now what's very unique about Fedex, you mention that, there's only two of us and that's it.
We don't have a crew like you see on American Airlines
or one of the passenger carriers where they have the flight attendants.
Just the two of us, we hit the road and off we go, which makes it pretty nice.
It's not hard to get everybody organized to get out to the plane or wait for the van or whatever.
What happens is one is designated as the captain.
And the other is called the first officer, though it's more commonly known as the co-pilot,
but you alternate legs so that one leg... But it's the captain's call.
He can do everything if you want and not let the co-pilot fly at all
and then that co-pilot is just handling the radios and the backup duties,
but typically you'll just take turns taking off and landing.
You never switch seats.
The captain is always in the left seat, first officer is always in the right seat.
There's the thrill of racing down the runway at 100 something miles an hour
and then taking this big thing and trying to get it to land on
that hunk of concrete and the challenges that you face en route.
I like more of a hands on type of job.
I like being, so to speak, outside, because you now, it's not a desk type of job,
even though I did plenty of that type of work in the military.
I like the idea of it's very clear cut what you need to do.
You know, when you start a job, you know when it's starting and you know when it's over.
Having done several desk jobs in the Pentagon and other places
where there's never a beginning or end to any type of assignment or project you're working on
this is really clear cut and it feels good to have a mission and to accomplish it and,
you know, sometimes you just know that, I know they're only boxes,
but, you know, these people are spending a lot of money and it's to help support their business
and you feel good when you have a challenge
and you can get it there to help them out and I think that just kind of comes from
my background in the military missions and getting things done.
Now the challenging and your career rests on this is how well,
you know, you've got regular check rides,
you know, you say you're studying and evaluations and so forth,
so it's not just like we've done for years and years of driving your car,
kind of, you never take your driver's test again.
Every six months at a minimum, you're getting checked and evaluated,
and it's not impossible, but it's challenging.
You just need to stay up with it.
With Fedex, I wouldn't be surprised if it's as high as 80% of those pilots have military background.
It's a real, it's very financially intense, restrictive to pursue that career on your own
and it probably takes just as long as if you get into the military
to make it to a major as if you go civilian route.
The pilots that I've flown that have a civilian background just they've done so many different things
because they're constantly trying to figure out ways to get flight time, whether they're an instructor pilot,
get on with some small company that has a small plane they can fly around
and then they just continue to move up typically.
I would recommend going into the military if that suits you.
If the military lifestyle doesn't suit you, then don't do it because you'll be miserable,
because you've got to do well.
You know, even if you plan to get out after five or six years
you don't want to get out with a bad track record,
because then American or whoever,
if that's what you want to do, is not going to hire you,
because those people in the hiring business were probably in the military
and they're going to be able to figure out what your background is,
so you need to, you know, that individual needs to self assess of, where do I want to be in 3, 5, 7, 8 years?
And how do I want to get there?
And just be very honest with themselves on what it's going to require to get to that end point
and like I said, it's two completely different paths to get to the same point and both will work.
It's not... I wouldn't say one's favored over the other.
They're just completely different type of lifestyle,
those 10-12 years you're going to spend trying to get to that point.
I went to Penn State.
I graduated in Penn State with an Engineering Degree, Agriculture Engineering actually,
but I went to school on a scholarship, a Navy scholarship, it was called Navy ROTC.
So I went through the ROTC Program. That paid for my school.
In the summers I had to go on Navy cruises
so I could get training in the Navy and so after your freshman through your junior years,
those following summers, you would go out for six weeks and see different aspects of the Navy
to help open your eyes to help you choose maybe what career field you wanted to go into
and then I chose, and you know, in the back of my mind, even going into college,
I thought I'd want to go into the aviation field and ideally a pilot.
So that's where I got my degree and once I finished Penn State,
my senior year in Navy ROTC I had to apply for just like a job application to the different services.
They really wanted me to go on nuclear submarines because I was an engineer
but I was able to get a pilot slot and off I went to flight school in the Navy
and that took about a year and a half to get through flight school.
The first ride you do, and it could have changed, because it's many years ago I went through flight school.
The first ride is kind of a show and tell. You ride along.
The plane is set up.
It's a propeller plane, but it's setup like a jet where the pilot's sitting in front, the instructor pilot,
the student pilot, the instructor pilot is right behind you, so you're not sitting side by side.
And you have a stick and the throttle, just like a jet.
So the first time he's in the back and he has the same control, so he would takeoff and land the plane.
Then on the second flight you're doing the takeoff and you're doing all the maneuvers,
and then the third flight you're doing the landing,
so I finished that and then I went out and flew in the Navy for 18 more years.
If this is the career you want to pursue then you're going to have to just go for it.
You're going to face a lot of hurdles and you're going to have to reassess yourself along the way saying,
is it still worth it?
And it is. I thoroughly enjoy it.
It gives me lots of opportunities, whether it's for travel or at home with free time or,
but you've got to realize when you're away, you really are away.
You're not just going to the office at 9 in the morning and back at 5.
But it's not going to be something you're going to... Depending on what level you want to achieve.
If you want to fly commercial, maybe as a corporate, it may not take as long.
If you want to be a local instructor pilot,
which a lot of people do and it's a very rewarding job as an instructor,
that won't take as long to get there, but it you want to make it all the way to the majors,
it's going to take a while and don't think it's going to be something you can achieve in two or three years.
You might as well plan 10-15 years to get there and if it works better, quicker than that, that's great.
And just be happy with that.
But just look at that block of time and what type of family obligations you may have,
what type of personal goals or achievements you want
and just reassess yourself along the way and just realize there's going to be a lot of challenges,
maybe it's financially, maybe it's time that you're going to need to face,
but if that's something you really want to do, just keep hanging in there
and talk to some people that have achieved that along the way
and that can kind of reassure you that there is the nice...
The goal is worth the battle along the way.