I am on vacation this week. Throughout the week, I will be posting “Best of” content which is picked based on total views received and known areas of reader interest. While I’m away, my internet time will be very limited, and I will be unable to respond to emails, comments, etc. This Best of MJ post, my very first blog post, originally appeared on August 3, 2006.
Well, who knew? I have entered the blogosphere. Those that know me, know that I’m all about travel. I’ve been involved in aviation in one form or another since I was 15, and wanted to be involved before that.
I spent most of my childhood drawing pictures of airplanes, staring at airplanes in the sky, thinking about airplanes, building model airplanes and wanting to be an airline pilot. For me, high school, college, and all that goes with it were nothing more than a means to an end. I started flying lessons at age 15, and progressed through my various licenses and ratings all through high school and college. I joined a large regional airline as a pilot not long after graduating from college, and was fairly certain I was on path for reaching my ultimate goal: to be the Captain of a passenger jet for a major U.S. airline. I was on my way until January 17, 1996. That’s the day that I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. FAA will not issue a medical certificate necessary for commercial flying to Type 1 diabetics. My career as a pilot was over.
I spent several months in a management position at the airline and later joined the major airline parent company progressing through several management assignments in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Washington, DC. I was working for the airline at Reagan National Airport (DCA) on September 11, 2001. Maybe I’ll write about that someday, but suffice it to say that things got interesting at the airport that morning. A little over 2 years later, I elected to leave the airline for another job in Washington, DC. I’m still heavily involved with aviation through my current work, and travel fairly frequently. But no longer as a non-rev!!
I may change my mind as I move along with this, but I’d envision some serious poetic waxing and pontificating about the state of our airline industry, the state of travel and my state of mind as I get this blog going. Don’t be afraid to let me know what you think!
Thoughts on the First Post
It’s kind of fun to read what I thought the blog would be, and then think about how it has evolved. A lot has changed in those 9 plus years in loyalty, airlines, and travel in general. If I’d known then what I know now, I probably would have tried to come up with some cute name for the blog, but it is what it is. I’m not the most widely read blogger on Boardingarea, nor am I the least read. A few of you have read me from the very beginning, and some may be reading for the first time right now. For that, I say thank you.
