Ever since I was a child, I had a dream of flying an airplane and becoming a pilot. I’m now working as a co-pilot on M Airlines, but my path wasn’t so smooth. When I was in the third grade of primary school, the teacher asked us to write an essay about what I wanted to be when I grew up, I wrote that I wanted to be a pilot, so the teacher tore up my essay and mocked me, saying, “Your grades are so poor and short-sighted, it’s good that I didn’t send you to the enlightenment class.”
At that time, I thought I couldn’t fly. It wasn’t until 2006, when I was in my second year of college, that I saw an advertisement on the bulletin board for EVA Air to recruit pilots, and I could see that Dou Da wrote “Vision correction 1.0 is sufficient.”
and then ignited my desire to fly. After graduating from college, I went to Seattle on April 12, 2011, to learn to fly.
On June 13, 2012, I graduated from flight school, returned to Taiwan, and began to prepare for the Civil Aviation Administration’s license renewal exam, as well as the resume application of various airlines, everyone thought of all Taiwanese airlines, I have all tested, until April 10, 2015 I finally admitted to an airline called V Airlines, I took the exam for nearly three years before I was admitted to the airline, in the middle of the three years many people persuaded me to give up, to do other work, saying that I am not suitable. When I got in, I thought my life was full of hope and prospects, but my training was not so smooth, and the pressure of flying was very high, after all, the lives of one or two hundred people were in your hands.
When I was training, I would be yelled at or sour when I made a mistake or couldn’t answer a question. At that time, the number of training instructors in the company was not enough, and there was no way to give me too much training, so I had few opportunities to fly in V Airlines. Before I left the company, I had quite a few flight hours, and the company disbanded on October 1, 2016, two months before that, the company started laying off employees, and they made it so difficult that you couldn’t pass through the simulator assessment. Before I was examined, I was so stressed that I couldn’t eat or sleep properly for a week or two. On the day of the assessment on August 2 of the same year, I was sent to the hospital because I was unwell, and when I was in the hospital, I knew that I must be one of the layoffs. It was the darkest and most painful day of my life, and the next day there was a training review meeting in the company, we called it TRB, and I had to face five supervisors, and that meeting fired me in less than five minutes.
After I left V Airlines, I thought my life was over, but God still favored me. Since I have an American identity and can work in the United States, I didn’t want to be too far away from Taiwan, so I tried to find a flight job in Guam, and I really found it, although the job was to fly a small four-seater plane, take guests to Guam to do air guides, and the salary was very low, but I needed to accumulate flight hours, so I went. I worked for that company for two years, and when I had accumulated the number of hours I needed, I found a job at M Airlines, which is the company I am currently working for.
At the beginning, I received two months of training in Phoenix, and my training was quite smooth, thanks to the fact that I had worked at V Airlines, I had previous experience, and I had worked in the very high-pressure environment of Taiwan Airlines, so I came to M Airlines, and many things were relatively easy for me even if they were stressful.
God is very humorous, on August 24 this year, I took the simulator test for the Air Transport Pilot License (ATPL), and I encountered an unexpected situation, that is, halfway through the test, the simulator malfunctioned, causing my exam to be interrupted, and the next day I finished the rest of the test, so I successfully got the license. At this time, I heard a voice in my heart tell me, “Three years ago, you also had an unexpected situation and interrupted the exam, but at that time, it was because you were unwell and was sent to the hospital, and this time the simulator itself was disabled, and I know the pain in your heart. 」
After I got my license, I came to Houston from Phoenix to start my actual passenger training, which can be called “Airway Training.”
I need to collect 31 signatures before I can complete the training. My training instructor is a captain in the company who is recognized as frightening to everyone, I call him SE, there is a co-pilot who sees that he wants to fly with him, he will ask for sick leave or transfer shifts, I flew with him two trips, more than 40 hours, he is strict and picky, but also let me learn a lot of things I am not afraid of him because I have been in the more high-pressure environment in Taiwan, I have met a more fierce captain, so he is relatively mild. But also because of his strict relationship, I have been given extra training.
At that time, my radio communication ability was not up to the instructor’s standard, and the instructor felt that the instructor was not very relieved, so I was given additional training for more than 70 hours. If the company stipulates that if it exceeds 70 hours, it will be necessary to go through the “training review meeting”.
When I heard the three English letters of TRB, I was super scared, those three words were about to be fired in Taiwan, I was very nervous to go to the company’s TRB, but this time it was completely different from what I was three years ago.
There were also five supervisors in that meeting, but they said that my performance improved every time, Captain SE also mentioned in the report that I have been improving, and I have been holding my signature, which can be trained, but it takes a little time. After a 30-minute meeting, they decided to give me another trip, and at the end of the meeting, I was told by a voice in my heart, ” Three years ago, you went to TRB, and your former company denied your performance and fired you, I know this is the most painful part of your heart, so I let you go through TRB again, but this time to affirm your performance, I let you be added to extra training for more than 70 hours, so that you can strengthen your hand more before being released, you have to believe me, I let you come to the United States, not let you come here to be unemployed.
Sure enough, the captain of my last trip was replaced by a more patient and good-tempered captain, I called him JC, and JC fixed my landing problems so that I could grasp the feel, my final training went very smoothly, and I got all the autographs.
On October 24th of this year, I finally completed all my training and became the official co-pilot, Hallelujah! Thank you, Lord, it took me 2,689 days, more than seven years, to get to this position since June 13, 2012. I would like to thank my family and friends for encouraging me and supporting me to this day. I would like to thank God for honing my temper and personality through these trainings and also teaching me the lesson of trusting Him in everything, and strengthening my faith in God after these seven years of baptism. I know that there are many challenges ahead of me, but I believe that God is the God of Immanuel and that He will be with me.
In this season of thanksgiving, I want to give God the greatest thanksgiving. This year is a very special year for me, I have finally fulfilled my dream of becoming an official pilot, and I will work harder in the future, pray that God will keep me safe every time I fly and that my life can have a positive impact on the glory of God and others. Finally, I give all thanks and glory to the Lord Jesus Christ who loves me!