Help Me 2 Fly!

Dear Donor,

Ever since I can remember I've wanted to be a pilot.  (No joke --my earliest memories are of airplanes and wanting to fly them.)  I cannot think of a time when flying wasn't on my brain and in 1996, after many stops and starts along the way, I earned my Private Pilot's license.  Ahh, sweet success! 

Now I could finally call myself a PILOT.  But all my pilot friends said I wasn't a "real" pilot until I earned an Instrument Rating.  So using my soon-to-expire G.I. Bill benefits, I sweated and toiled in the Arizona summer heat for ten straight days and passed my Instrument checkride in 2000.  Hey, making progress! 

But the real goal all along was to get paid to do this amazing thing called 'flying'.  I mean, doing what you love and making a living at it is supposed to be the ultimate career goal, right?  Since embarking on my journey, I've worked hard, bartered and begged for flight time whenever I could, borrowed friends' airplanes, and spent whatever available funds I had to build flight time and meet all the requirements of becoming a Commercial Pilot. I now have 300 hard-won hours logged and ALL of the necessary prerequisites to train for my Commercial license, including passing my Airman Knowledge Test with a score of 95.  All I need now are the funds to make the final training push!

I'm taking the advice of my pilot mentors and I want to earn both my Multi- and Single-engine Commercial certificates in one concentrated training period.  This will involve the associated training for both aircraft (plus two checkride fees) but will maximize the time and money involved.  After completing my training, I very much hope to do some good with my new skills; to give back as I firmly believe we all should do when given a leg up.  Some ideas I've had include donating my time to charitable organizations that use airplanes for documenting environmental damage, exposing youth to aviation, or flying wounded veteran and/or rescue- animal transport missions. Joining the Civil Air Patrol as a cadet mentor and search-and-rescue pilot was another idea I had.  In short, I believe that knowing how to fly is its own "super power" and I would want to use the empowerment of your donation to do more with the ability than just collect a paycheck.

In closing, I just want to express that I'm gainfully employed and fully intending to contribute my own funds to achieve this goal.  However, the recession took quite a toll on my finances and decimated the money I'd originally set aside for the training.  I lost my house and the job I'd had for thirteen years (I was a flight attendant for an airline that closed its doors this past September -- see the profile picture of me trying on the First Officer's seat) and I've moved into a one-bedroom cottage with my mom to save on living expenses so that more of my paycheck can go to this endeavor.  Of special note is that there is a nationwide pilot shortage ocurring -- the biggest in history -- that is expected to last well into the next decade. There are more flying jobs opening up than pilots to fill them so I feel very confident that I'll have a job waiting when I'm ready to make piloting a career.  I just need your help to make it happen.

I want to thank you in advance for your consideration and support and to assure you that your contribution will not be wasted or frivolously used.  I'm both determined and dedicated and looking forward to the day when my drive to work each day takes me to the local airport.