Milestones

My road in life has been direct.
Fell in love with aviation at age 5.
All school work was based on the fact that I wanted to be a pilot.
Went to college and got my B.S. and commercial pilots certificate.
Began flight instructing to acquire hours for the airlines.
September 11, 2001 happened and aviation came to a halt.
I got my medical certificate to fly due to migraines.
Began working at a fixed base operator (FBO) in customer service.
Learned about my current job while at the FBO and began my career in Airport Operations. A job I love.

Career

Airport Operations Supervisor

I supervise employees who ensure a large hub airport is safe for aircraft operations and respond to aircraft emergencies

Career Roadmap

Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Science
Government
Problem Solving

Day to Day

Everyday is different. Our operations is 24 hours with 3 shifts covering that. We do what is called a self inspection on each shift, where we inspect runways and taxiways to ensure they are safe for aircraft operations. Somethings we look for are potholes in concrete that could damage aircraft, wildlife that needs to be mitigated, proper water drainage. We also respond with the fire department to aircraft emergencies and act as incident commanders.

Advice for Getting Started

Here's the first step for college students

Get an internship with an airport in airport operations. Get some experience there then apply at smaller airports to start out at and learn the ropes, the move to larger airports and up the career ladder.

Recommended Education

My career is related to what I studied. I'd recommend the path I took:

Hurdles

The Noise I Shed

From Teachers:

"Aviation is a male dominated industry, females do not move up in aviation. You're too shy to be in this industry. "