Flight Training - November/December 2021 - 46

ADVANCED PILOT CAREER PILOT
FINALLY!
A CARD
FOR PILOTS.
BACK TO REALITY
REVISITING AN OLD CAREER
BY PETER A BEDELL
4%
Cash Back1
on Select
AOPA Purchases2-5
A CASH BACK1
REDEMPTION IS APPLIED AS A STATEMENT CREDIT.
QUARTERLY BONUS POINT CAP OF 2,500 POINTS
Visit
AOPA.org/creditcard
to learn more.
*Certain points and purchases restrictions apply, see full Rewards
Terms and Conditions for full details at AOPA.org/creditcard.
1. Rewards points can be redeemed for Cash Back or other items provided
through AOPA Pilot Rewards. A Cash Back redemption is applied
as a statement credit. The statement credit will reduce your balance
but you are still required to make at least your minimum payment. A
minimum of 2,500 points is needed to redeem for Cash Back. Values for
non-cash back redemption items such as merchandise, gift cards, and
travel may vary. 2. Advertising, Aviation Insurance, PAC Donations and
AFI Donations are excluded. Visit www.commercebank.com/aopapilotrewards
for complete details on exclusions and bonus point categories.
3.Participating AOPA partners include: Aero-Space Reports, Aircraft
Spruce & Specialty Co., Jeppesen®, Pilot Workshops, SiriusXM®,
Sporty's® Pilot Shop. The listed AOPA partners are in no way affiliated
with Commerce Bank, nor are the listed merchants to be considered
sponsors or co-sponsors of this program. Use of merchant names and/
or logos is by the permission of each respective merchant and all trademarks
are the property of their respective owners 4. Please note that
merchants self-select the category in which transactions will be listed
and some merchants may be owned by other companies, therefore
transactions may not be counted in the category you might expect. Purchases
made using Near Field Communication (NFC), virtual wallets, or
similar technology may not be eligible for bonus points. 5. You will earn
4% Cash Back (1 regular point + 3 bonus points = 4%) for every $1 of
Net Merchandise Purchases on select AOPA purchases, 3% Cash Back
(1 regular point + 2 bonus points = 3%) for every $1 of Net Merchandise
Purchases made at select AOPA partners, 2% Cash Back (1 regular
point + 1 bonus points = 2%) for every $1 of Net Merchandise Purchases
made at FBOs (fixed based operators), aviation and auto fuel, and
flight schools, and 1% Cash Back (or 1 point) for every $1 of other Net
Merchandise Purchases. For example, if you spend $100, you will earn
100 points which is equal to $1 in Cash Back rewards. A maximum of
2,500 bonus points will be awarded per calendar quarter, per rewards
account. Please allow up to five business days after the transaction
posts to your account for bonus points to be awarded.
WHILE THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
cratered my airline career in 2020,
I wasn't going to sit around and idly
watch the rust gather on my flying skills
while worrying about the future. As
co-owner of two airplanes, I was able to
fly, but sadly there were few places to go
with much of the country shut down and
a wife who thankfully still had her job.
A friend who manages a Piper Cheyenne
II for a local real estate company
offered to throw some flying my way,
which sounded like a grand plan for
this airline pilot with clipped wings.
More than 20 years ago I made a poor
46
living as a part-time air-taxi pilot flying
Beechcraft Barons and Piper Navajos.
The days were long, the pay was low,
but the experience couldn't be better
for a budding professional pilot. How
would I do now as a 51-year-old pilot at
a major airline?
Even though I captain a Boeing 737
for a living, I did not take training in the
Cheyenne lightly. I learned the limitations,
studied the systems, and ran many
what-if scenarios through my head to
prepare for the reality of flying a complex
twin turboprop alone in the busy
Northeast. My friend who hooked me up
FLIGHT TRAINING NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021
JAN FEINDT
http://www.AOPA.org/creditcard http://www.AOPA.org/creditcard http://www.commercebank.com/aopapilotrewards http://www.commercebank.com/aopapilotrewards
Flight Training - November/December 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Flight Training - November/December 2021
