Career Report

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CAREER REPORT

Airline Pilot

by Mark Jones, 8A

I am 14 years old and my birthplace is right here in Rincon, Georgia. I have lived here all of my life. I am an 8th grade student at SouthEffinghamMiddle School in Guyton, Georgia. EffinghamCounty in Georgia is one of the nation’s fastest growing counties and was established in 1777. It is located about 22 miles northwest of Savannah, Georgia, and measures 482.9 square miles. It was created in 1777 from the colonial parishes of St. Mathew and St. Phillip as Georgia's 4th county and one of the oldest settlements in America. It’s eastern border of the county is formed by a length of 314-mile-long Savannah River Ranks and ranks 34th in the state in square miles at 482.9

Top crops in 2002 included corn, oats, rye and soybeans (National Agricultural Statistic Service for the US Department of Agriculture). The 2007 US Census estimatesranked Effingham 44th fastest growing county.

Purpose of Report

I am part of the Fall Semester, 8th Grade Career class at SouthEffinghamMiddle School. Our assignment is to complete a report on the career we have chosen to research based on a number of things we have learned about ourselves.

Career Researched

An airplane pilot is the career I researched. This career is part of the Architecture, Construction, Communications & Transportation cluster Flight Operations pathway. I chose this career because of my interests, personality, talents, skills/strengths, and values. in the table below:

Name of Qualities / My results
Passions (Interests) / Working with machines, ideas and making decisions
Attitude (Personality) / Doer and Persuader
Talents (Skills/Strengths) / Very good at manual dexterity with fine motor coordination
Heart (Values) / Respect of others, Ability to do a good job Chance to be the top performer

Assessments

I also completed several assessments over the semester. Some of them helped me to further define my personality and skills. As a result, after I completed the assessments, several careers were suggested based on those results. As you can see, the career I chose aligns with my perceptions and assessments results.

Personality. I like physical activities and projects. I like to find the answers to problems by doing hands-on work instead of talking about solutions.

Interests. I am a persuader. I like to sell things or ideas. Prestige and power are important to me. I like to use your language skills to convince other people of your ideas.

Skills. I am an excellent marksman and have been practicing for three years. I also am fairly accurate with a bow.

Industry Outlook Stable

In the fourth chapter of our book, we reviewed industries that were growing, paid well, and those that were declining. Fortunately, my career is stable. The expected national earnings for the year I start working should be at least $146,840.

Work Description and Requirements

A pilot flies airplanes/helicopters and carries out a wide variety of tasks, such as transporting passengers and cargo, dusting crops, spreading seed for reforestation, testing aircraft, tracking criminals, monitoring traffic, and rescuing and evacuating injured persons. The often relies on computerized controls.

All pilots who are paid to transport passengers or cargo must have a commercial pilot's license with an instrument rating issued by the FAA. Although some small airlines hire high school graduates, most airlines require at least 2 years of college and prefer to hire college graduates. In fact, most entrants to this occupation have a college degree. Because the number of college-educated applicants continues to increase, many employers are making a college degree an educational requirement. For example, test pilots often are required to have an engineering degree. Pilots also need flight experience to qualify for a license. Completing classes at a flight school approved by the FAA can reduce the amount of flight experience required for a pilot's license.

Once trained, pilots are required to attend recurrent training and simulator checks once or twice a year throughout their career. To qualify for FAA licensure, applicants must be at least 18 years old and have at least 250 hours of flight experience.

The following transferable skills are important for this career: active listening, critical thinking, monitoring, andtroubleshooting. Workplace skills used in this career are navigation instructions for aircraft to transport people or freight, and operating communications equipment. The skill sets needed to be a pilot arecomplex coordination,

judgment, decision making, operationand control of radar equipment.

High School. In high school, I should be taking the classes for the Plan of Study attached for the Architecture, Construction, Communications and Transportation Career Cluster. My plan is to enter the U. S. Armed forces since have always been an important source of experienced pilots because of the extensive flying time and experience on jet aircraft and helicopters. If I didn’t join the Armed Forces, I could obtain training by attending flight schools or by taking lessons from FAA-certified flight instructors.

Extracurricular Activities. Additionally, joining a technology student organization would look good on my resume.

Financial Aid. I understand that in high school, my GPA should be at least a 3.5 if I hope to obtain the Hope Scholarship. If I do join the armed forces, I can obtain training at no cost, therefore, I do not need a budget at this time.

As a result of my research, I believe I would like to pursue this career. After I get out of the Armed Forces I would love to live in Florida on the GulfCoast in a gated community at the beach. Since I plan on working for an airline, Pensacola, Florida would be a good place to fly in/out of on a daily basis. It is a college town and offers many cultural opportunities.

November 10, 2009

Career Report 2009/2010