Our Two Year Journey

It was shortly after Oliver was born that Jan decided to follow his dream of becoming a pilot. We moved to Ogden in May 2013 for him to go to school at Cornerstone Aviation. The plan was for him to be done with his commercial license in nine months and to spend the next two years as an instructor, also at Cornerstone, to earn enough hours to become a regional airline pilot and then eventually a national/international airline pilot. For some background, pilots earn approximately 200 hours while earning their private, instrument, and commercial licenses. Most then earn their instructing licenses and spend the next 2+ years working as an instructor to earn at least 1500 hours to get into the regional airlines (e.g., SkyWest, Pacific Wings, Horizon Air, etc.). Instructors get paid very little. You would think that once they get to the regional airlines, they get paid well. You would be wrong. They still get paid very little. Then they have to work in the regional airlines for 3-4 years to earn enough hours to be hired by a national/international airline (the big ones that everyone knows). This is where the money is, but it's a looooong journey. Anyway. . . Because of the Chinese students, it took him a year to get all of his licenses.

During that time, Jan realized he didn't want to become an instructor. We couldn't get any more loans to pay for his instructing licenses anyway, so whenever he heard of an opportunity that would allow him to work as a pilot that required minimal hours, he attempted it. We looked into Grand Canyon Airlines in Nevada. He applied too late for their hiring season. We looked into moving to the Philippines where he could work at a large airline company. Come to find out, he would need at least 500 hours of flying time. We looked into him joining the Air National Guard. He was going to pass their age limit for joining before they opened up the opportunities he was looking at. We looked into piloting for a military-for-hire company. They never called back. We looked into, and even applied, to LAN Airlines in Chile. They never contacted us. In the mean time, Jan has been working at Cornerstone Aviation as the front desk clerk.

But because so many opportunities were falling through, I started looking for a job to support our family, so Jan could earn his instructing licenses. It would also help make ends meet, because our our multiple loan payments and other bills would be too much for an instructor's salary. I finally found a job at Wayfair. Many of you know the story from there. I hated the job and left after two months. Next, I worked on starting a business. I had an awesome business plan (according to the business development center) but because of our financials, no banks would loan us the money to start up. During that time, I broke my jaw, and things were at a standstill for a while.

Finally, Jan decided to apply to Grand Canyon Airlines in Nevada again. Last time, he applied in March, and it was too late. This time he applied in November. I was sure we would hear from them by the end of the year, since we had applied early this time. The end of the year came and went, and there was no word. We finally heard back from them mid-March, but when it became mid-April and no interview was extended, we knew it was over.

Our apartment contract ended at the end of April, so we had to make a decision of whether we should renew our lease or not. We decided we couldn't make it here in Utah the way things have been going, so we didn't renew. At first we were thinking of moving to Arizona, but when we went over our financials, we realized it wouldn't work. That left us with the option of either moving to Vegas and living with his mom, or a miracle from Jan's boss that would make us stay.

Jan called his boss to let her know our situation and that we would have to move, because we couldn't make enough money to make ends meet here. And a miracle happened! She offered him a lot more money to stay and become an instructor. We still need to find someone to cosign a loan so he can get his instructing licenses, but we are having some faith.

Unfortunately, since we already ended our lease, our complex already has a tenant ready to move into our place in June. Now we are just searching for a pet-friendly place between here and SLC that is affordable and a good place to live, which is a lot harder than you might think... In the mean-time, I'm packing up all our stuff and applying to jobs. And thankfully we can take a break from all of this craziness in two weeks when we will be going on a cruise with Jan's family!

So goodbye to our two years here! We are finally moving on!