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After hanging around Mountain
Air for a little over four years, I have seen a lot of pilots join and fly
with us. Some of us are active, and some of us for a variety of reasons are
not. Nevertheless, I see very few of us just simply leave the airline. I
think that there is more going on here than just flying virtual planes.
After all, we can do that by ourselves, and many of us do.
First, let’s look at the Mountain Air mission
statement which promises “Short Hops, Few Rules, and Having Fun”. We have
always taken that credo seriously at our airline.
Short hops eliminate the
tedium of sitting in front of a monitor for four or five hours on a long
transcontinental hop. We fly, we have fun, and then we go back to our real
lives and families. In addition, that alone could account for pilot
longevity.
We do not lean very heavily
on rules. Sure, we have bylaws and policies, but for the most part that is
for our tireless volunteers to deal with as they manage and grow our
airline. We don’t want rules to get in the way of you just having FUN doing
what you do best and that is flying Mountain Air schedules.
And this brings us to the
final part of our mission, to provide a lot of fun for all of us as we
participate at Mountain Air. Now, there are many different ways to have fun
with our airline. The most obvious way is to fly, fly, and fly. Rack up
those hours and have the personal satisfaction of seeing your epaulets get
more stripes and change from silver to gold as you progress up the pilot
ranks.
Another way to have fun is to
volunteer. We always need more enthusiastic hands to help us with the work
of operating and growing Mountain Air. For many, this can be a great source
of personal satisfaction in knowing that you have a direct hand in the
operation of this great organization. If you feel that you have something
to bring to the table or have that “killer” idea to share, please step
forward and share. Everyone of our managers’ doors are open. Catch us on
line or email one of us. Most of all double your fun: Volunteer.
Probably the most satisfying
avenue to fun is flying online as much as possible. When you come out with
us, you help build the group experience. You will find out that virtual
airlines are tribal in many ways. We share a lot in common with our
colleagues at other airlines, yet we are somewhat competitive. We like to
see how many pilots we can field at a big fly-in and often take screen shots
of FSNav or Whazzup as trophies to show that Mountain Air carried the day.
Flying on line has a more
important dimension though: You make great friends who share a common
interest with you. While this friendship starts out grounded in virtual
aviation, it soon becomes enriched as you
discuss your families, your jobs, problems and the little victories that
each of us has on occasion and like to share
with those we care about.
I am proud of my Mountain Air
friends and the fact that they are scattered all over the world yet share
the global village with me. We often meet many of our friends face to face
and this truly is a big payoff.
We have had a secret at
Mountain Air with our unique philosophy but little by little, other VA’s are
catching on and emulating us. That is great.
We want to be known as the VA
that pioneered this concept and we do that by keeping up the great work as
we take short hops, with few rules, and have fun so that we can continue
being a different breed of airline.
Blue Skies, Verne MTN005 |
