My ties to the Aviation Industry

Originally published October 4, 2019

Aviation has always fascinated me: It's humanity's fastest way of commercial travel.  Anyone can get from one point on the planet to another within a day or so.  If you're referring to the contiguous United States, you can go from anywhere in the U.S. to another spot in the U.S. in under six hours.  Driving would take over eight times that.  To me, it's stunning to think where our country and our world would be without the invention of air travel.  People that have needed to get from one end of our country to the other can do so in a few hours, rather than over a day.

I have flown many times in my life, but not until I was 20 years old.  I had a long distance relationship (with my current girlfriend), and I had to go to California to see her, and she had to come up here to Washington to see me.  We would fly every couple months to see each other when we were long distance.  Now that she's moved up here, we still on occasion fly down to California to see her family. 

My most memorable flying experience would have to be flying to Hawaii with her.  We flew down to Los Angeles, then to Honolulu, where we stayed for a few days, then to Kona on the big island, then back to L.A., then back home.  These flights were the first time I had flown on an airline other than Southwest Airlines.  We flew Hawaiian Air between the islands of course.  I believe we flew Delta from between Hawaii and Los Angeles.  The flight that was the worst was from Kona to Los Angeles, because it was so early in the morning and we were both running off very little sleep.

Not only do I have a bit of experience flying, my dad used to work for Boeing.  I don't remember his job title or exactly what he did, but he worked on a computer and dealt with plane parts.  He didn't work for them too long, but he picked up some knowledge there he still on occasion tries to share with me.  Let's just say it's hard to retain.

My uncle, my dad's brother, currently works for Boeing and has for a long time.  He is more on the manual labor sector.  Again, I don't know his job title, but I know he transports a lot of plane parts.  

Not to mention both my grandfathers flew planes in World War II.  My paternal grandfather flew a B-17 in the navy and is still kicking at 93 years of age.  

Aviation is, in a way, in my blood.  It's kind of fitting I would work at an Aviation company.  I don't know if I'll ever pursue a career in the aviation industry further, but I can say that I am fascinated by it.  I have a lot to learn about it, however.