SPECIAL PROGRAMMING NOTE!

You've probably noticed that the last several months of posts haven't appeared. Is Keyboard & Rudder dead?

Not at all. I've just been extremely busy.

What could possibly keep me so busy I haven't written?

Going to the big new world of the airlines, that's what.

Yes, after several years as a happy flight instructor, a recent change in circumstances has led me to enter the Part 121 scene. It's an exciting new world, with new procedures, new routes, and new equipment to learn (for me, the Dash 8), and that's what I've been up to since early this summer.

Once a flight instructor, always a flight instructor, so I'll be writing about the experience of joining a regional airline. Over the weeks to come, I'll be posting a blow-by-blow account of what the process and training is like.

The first posts in the series are about getting ready for the interview, what it was like, and what I've been doing since getting hired and waiting for class to start. If you're considering a career in the airlines, or just wonder what it's like for the "other half", you should find this upcoming series interesting.

Even if you're not interested in going to an airline, I've always tried to glean the best aspects of all types of flying (military, commercial, and general aviation) to make myself and my students better aviators, so you'll probably find something to make your own flying (or learning to fly) a little better and safer.

I hope you enjoy an exciting bundle of posts, and thanks for reading!

The author is an airline pilot, flight instructor, and adjunct college professor teaching aviation ground schools. He holds an ATP certificate with a DHC-8 type rating, as well as CFI, CFII, MEI, AGI, and IGI certificates, and is a FAASafety Team representative and Master-level participant in the FAA's WINGS program. He is on Facebook as Larry the Flying Guy, has a Larry the Flying Guy YouTube channel, and is on Twitter as @Lairspeed.

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