Pilot Success Story

Chris M.
United Airlines

After working in the corporate world, Chris successfully moved into aviation as a second career. His hard work led him to a position with United Airlines after only three years at a regional carrier.

Chris’s story:

I have been in love with aviation since I saw my first airplane as a small child, dropping my mom off at the airport. Later I worked to earn my aviation merit badge as a Boy Scout. I was fortunate to be able to take my first introductory flight at the end of that program during summer camp. I was in love.

As a high school student, I planned to join the Air Force and learn to fly. Unfortunately, my eyesight started to decline by that time. I had to get glasses. Back in the early 1990s that was a disqualifying factor for a flight seat, so I had to think of something else to do. Private flight training, although significantly cheaper than it is now, was much more expensive than I could afford at the time. I had some talent with computers and technology, so I ended up pursuing that as a first career.

After a long first career, I became weary of the day-in day-out corporate routine. I was fortunate to be successful in my career. That success provided me the opportunity to explore the aviation world once again. I found a small local flight school operating at our local international airport. I scheduled an introductory flight to see if I loved it as much as I remembered loving it. I met my instructor, Erick, late one evening after work. He took me up around downtown Nashville that evening, and I was immediately hooked.

I decided to see how far I could take this flying thing I loved so much. I chose to continue my training at Tennessee Flight Training in the Part 61 world because it allowed me to maintain my full-time job while training on my own schedule. The fact that they were located at an international airport was intimidating at first, but it was something that I felt would be beneficial in the long run since I was interested in pursuing a career change into aviation. Fortunately, I was right. The training I received from the very beginning in the busy commercial environment provided me with the confidence and skills necessary to operate with ease in and out of airports all over the country.

I continued with Tennessee Flight Training to become a commercial multi-engine rated pilot as well as a CFI and CFII. I was afforded the opportunity to teach at the same school that trained me until I accumulated enough experience to begin applying for my first airline job. I was fortunate to accept my first airline job with a wholly owned subsidiary of American Airlines, PSA Airlines. There I obtained the final training I needed to receive my ATP rating while learning to fly my first airliner and learning the ins and outs of the airline business. As a result of the explosive growth of the airline business after COVID, I was able to transition from PSA to my current home at a legacy carrier, United Airlines, after only three years.

Tennessee Flight Training provided me with every tool and opportunity I needed to make my career change and dream a reality.