An End to a Beginning

Last Friday I completed the Aircraft Dispatcher course at Jeppesen Academy. I decided to stay and take a two-day International Flight Planning course on Monday and Tuesday. Some of my classmates (pictured at right) stayed as well. They are from, among other places, Luxembourg, Australia, and Singapore. Other classmates have returned home to places like Missouri, Ohio, Montana, Germany, and Nigeria.

Due to scheduling issues, my FAA oral and practical exam was moved from last weekend to yesterday. Despite having to slug my way through the manual flight plan from hell, things went very well, and I now have my FAA Aircraft Dispatcher license. I drove back to Grand Junction last night.

There's lots to get caught up with, and I'm going to have a very busy few days before getting on the road again next week. School was an interesting and fairly intense experience, considering the body of knowledge and the need to be able to combine all of the study areas into the ability to exercise what is known as Operational Control in some segments of the aviation industry.

There are some segments of the industry in which I have an ongoing interest and considerable experience, and I'm going to try to pursue those avenues as much as possible. The location of those opportunities will probably play a big role in where I go, but for now I'm interested in getting into an aviation-related business somewhere close.

It's the beginning of another interesting road. The journey is what makes it worthwhile.

Have a great evening.