INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the first blog entry of the AVT 422 Fall 2013 course, for me, Jacob Bourassa. This entry will serve as a brief history of myself and cover some of my goals in the aviation industry. As for me, I am a fifth year senior in the Aviation Flight Technology major here at Eastern Michigan University. I am currently working on my commercial single engine land license and have approximately 206 total hours at the moment. Like many of you in my class, almost all of my flights are based out of Willow Run Airport and I am renting a Cessna 172-S model while doing it.

I was born and raised in southeast Michigan in the area known as “downriver”. For those of you who do not know what that means, “downriver” could be roughly defined by its borders of Detroit in the north, Lake Erie/Detroit River in the east, I-275 in the west, and the farmlands between Michigan and Ohio in the south. This general area contains the Detroit Metro Airport, and with it, a lot of visible (and certainly audible) air traffic. It was perhaps this close proximity to such a major hub of commercial aviation that planted dreams of pilot life in my young mind.

Although flying for a living would have been a dream come true, I thought of it as too lofty of a pursuit and somewhat of a mystery. So, I decided to enroll in Eastern Michigan University to pursue a more “down to earth” degree in secondary education when I graduated high school in 2009. The primary goal being to become a high school math teacher since I always excelled in the subject throughout school. But for the majority of you out there (99.99%), two years of math classes can take their toll on you, and after my sophomore year I became an “undecided” student. I was faced with arduous task of figuring out what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, and I had to do it quick because enrolling in classes with no particular direction is a financial mistake. So after a summer of working odd jobs and constant thinking of potential careers I began my last semester of general education classes in the fall of 2011, still with no major. But one late night at work I ran into a pilot still in her uniform picking up some late night food. And after having a half hour conversation covering how one even becomes a pilot, I went home later in the evening to stay up all night researching the nearest flight schools I could find. And after I discovered that the school I already went to offered an aviation program, I scheduled an appointment to join the program the next day. Getting started was a little rough, to go from almost no aviation knowledge whatsoever to taking all aviation courses and flying an actual plane took some getting used to. But eventually I got the hang of it and the last two years have been enjoyable to say the least.

As far as my future aspirations go, I would say that it is a tie right now between three different aviation routes. The first being the somewhat traditional route of working first as a ramp employee at my flight school, then instructing, all while building time to apply to a regional. Which would probably be Endeavor (formerly Pinnacle) Airlines since I interned there this previous summer. The second route would be to instruct for a shorter time than the previous route in the hopes of securing a cargo job at one of the few 135 operations at willow run with the overall goal to someday end up with a FedEx or UPS flight outfit. While the third would be to try to obtain a pilot slot with the Navy or Air Force through their officer training programs after I graduate with my degree. All of these routes have their pros and cons and some are harder in their own ways. But hopefully after the end of this semester, the choice will either become narrowed or completely clear.