2005 OBAP Conference Highlights: PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

by Dan Perkins

Gabrielle Glass flies for Mesaba Airlines, and is a first officer on Avro RJ85 aircraft.  Mesaba Airlines is the eighth largest regional airline in the United States, and operates as a Northwest Airlink affiliate under code-sharing agreements with Northwest Airlines. Mesaba Airlines provides service to more than 100 U.S. and Canadian cities from Northwest Airlines' three major hubs located in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Detroit, and Memphis.  In 2004, Mesaba Airlines transported more than 5.4 million passengers.  Mesaba Airlines maintains a fleet of 98 jet-prop and pure jet aircraft including the 30-34 passenger Saab 340 and the 69 passenger Avro RJ85.  Later in 2005, Mesaba will begin flying the CRJ-200.

While attending the 2005 OBAP Annual Conference, held earlier this month, Glass agreed to talk with diversityinbusiness.com about her career.  Below are edited highlights from that conversation.

dib: What were the major developments that led you to your current position?

GG:  I was born and raised in Detroit and started flying when I was sixteen years old.  I’ve been flying for thirteen years.  I became interested in aviation through the Explorer’s Program, which was a program offered in conjunction with the Tuskegee Airmen.  The first person to take me on a flight was a Tuskegee Airman.  We flew from Detroit to Willow Run, which is an airfield located approximately thirty miles west of Detroit.  It was enough to give me a feel for flying an airplane and I caught the aviation bug.  I attended Hampton University, where I majored in aviation science.  After Hampton, I was a flight instructor for three years.  Then I got hired to fly with Mesaba Airlines, and I’ve been flying for them for a little more than four years.

dib: What is a typical day like for you?

GG:  As first officer, I’m usually the first person to get to the airplane.  I do the walk-around checks.  I set up the computers inside the aircraft and check the weather.  I like to go behind the captain to learn his or her routine.  Once everything is set up, the airplane pretty much takes care of itself.  Once we take off, we put the airplane on auto-pilot and we become computer managers.  It terms of my work day, they differ.  Sometimes I fly just one-leg, and I’m done for the day, or I might fly as many as five or six legs in a day.  So, on any given day, I might fly out and return home the same day, or I might go out and not return home until the fourth day.  It varies.

dib: Does the computer adjust to weather conditions or is that something the pilot handles?

GG:  Pilots tend to watch the Weather Channel, plus we get weather reports before we take off.  We also have radar.  If Air Traffic Control doesn’t navigate us around a storm, or put us through a “hole,” then that’s where a pilot’s decision making comes in.  The pilot will determine whether he or she needs to deviate off the path, and by how many degrees, left or right.  He or she might try to fly above the storm, or if the weather is really bad, the pilot might elect to land somewhere or turn around and go back. That’s what piloting is all about.  It’s not just about how well you fly the plane, but also your decision making abilities.  That’s a big factor in being a commercial pilot.  I like to ask a lot of questions just to get my mind thinking about various ways of handling difficult situations.

dib: Do you find that you need physical conditioning to be able to work those long runs?

GG:  Being a commercial pilot is a sedentary job.  You sit six, eight, ten hours a day.  You really need to have some kind of exercise.  I started an exercise regime because I gained twenty pounds when I first got this job.  It came from eating fast foods.  I now take time out to pack meals that are healthy.  I usually can’t pack for three or four days, but I try to eat healthy foods.  I also roller-blade fifteen to twenty miles whenever I’m home in Detroit, and occasionally when I’m away for several days.

dib: Does your job require you to be comfortable with confined spaces?

GG:  I would say yes.  For me, it’s not a problem.  I don’t mind being in confined spaces, so I never really think about it.  But you are essentially in a tin box with another person.  The biggest thing isn’t being able to be in a confined space, but being able to get along with the person next to you.  You have to be able to deal with different attitudes and personalities.  As a first officer, you have to be a chameleon.  Each captain wants and does things differently, so you have to be able to adapt to their style of flying.

dib: What has your experience been like in the cockpit?

GG:  I have been blessed to have gotten along with the people that I’ve flown with.  It hasn’t always been an easy road.  I am African American, and I am a female.  It’s been 85 years since Bessie Coleman (the first African American woman to obtain a commercial pilot’s license), but we’re still pioneers.

dib: Does your career allow you to have a personal life?

GG:  It really depends upon your seniority.  When I first started out, I got ten days off per month, which is not a lot of time off.  Now, I get sixteen, sometimes eighteen, days off per month.  So, you do get time to have a personal life, and sometimes you have to make time for it.

dib: Does your base of operation change frequently?

GG:  No, not usually.  You tend to have the same base, but sometimes a base will be closed.  That happened to me.  I use to be based out of Wisconsin.  When they closed that base, I was reassigned to Detroit, which was fine because Detroit is my home.  If you move laterally or you’re promoted, you might be reassigned to another base, but the joy of being a pilot is you can live anywhere and commute to work.

dib: You were flying commercially prior to September 11th, how has your world changed since then?

GG:  Before 9-11, I didn’t think a lot about my career goals.  It use to be that you started out with a regional carrier and worked your way up to a major carrier.  Everyone had a timeline, but after 9-11 that timeline just stopped.  There’s now a lot of uncertainty in the industry.  If you look at the industry historically, you will find that things are cyclical.  You have periods of uncertainty, and then you have good times.  Now, in this post 9-11 world, I’m looking for other options to make money, so if something happens in the industry, I’m not out in the street with no job prospects.  I would tell anyone thinking about becoming a commercial pilot to get a degree in something they can fall back on.  If something catastrophic happens like you lose your medical certification, and you can’t fly airplanes any more, you will have to go back to school if all you majored in was aviation.

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