Love Beyond Altitude

Three months of hard work and studying finally comes to an end today. Today is my pilot’s exam that certifies me to become an airline pilot. Living at this Ramada Inn in Denver has been a struggle eating the same old food, and sleeping in the same old uncomfortable bed.

If I pass my pilots exam today, I will be flying home tomorrow night, after graduation. I have logged in countless hours, studying for today’s exam which includes an oral and practical exam. Passing this exam makes me an official pilot for BlueSkies Airlines, a small regional airline.

You usually work for a regional airline before heading over to the big guys such as United, Southwest, Delta, and American. They want you to have many years and hours of experience before you can work for them, which is why I’m here today.

My alarm goes off at 07:30. I hit snoozed the first time it rang. 07:40 arrives, and I still hit snooze on my alarm clock. My alarm goes off the third time at 07:50, I hit snooze again before realizing that the shuttle left at 08:00.

When I realized what time it was I jumped out of bed and quickly dressed into my uniform. My training uniform was black pants with a white button down shirt, with BlueSkies Airlines written on the front. A few minutes later, I grabbed my backpack and ran downstairs where the shuttle picked us up.

When I got to the shuttle stop in front of the hotel, I noticed it was snowing. I forgot to bring a jacket with me. I ran back to my room and grabbed my jacket. I ran back downstairs, and the shuttle was already loading people up. I ran into the shuttle and found a seat at the very front.

A few moments later after sitting down in the shuttle, a friend I met at training, Keira Young, sat down next to me. She was also late for the shuttle because I could tell that she was out of breath. I turned around, looked at Kiera, and began to talk to her.

“Good morning Kiera. I see you are running a little late.” I asked.

She turned around to her side and smiled. “Yeah. I kept snoozing my alarm this morning, till it was too late.”

“Me too. I got up at 07:50, and I had to go back into my room to grab my stupid jacket. I’m ready to leave Denver.”

“Just one more day. Are you ready to go back home to Vegas tomorrow?” Keira asked.

“I am ready to go home. I am so sick of this hotel room”. I replied.

“I am too. Let’s cross our fingers and hope we pass; I’ve been studying all night”.

“I have too. Would you like to study with me right now, since we have thirty- minutes to get to the training center Keira?”

Keira and I began to quiz each other on the regulations and procedures of the aircraft we’ve been training on.

I’ve been talking to Keira since day one of training. We’ve been hanging out with each other every day since we arrived in Denver three months ago. We’ve gotten close within these three months; we’re practically best friends.

After the thirty-minute drive on the shuttle, we finally arrived at the training center. It took a few minutes longer because of the snow, but we got there right in time to complete our exam.

The BlueSkies Airlines training center was in a large corporate office building. It was the training center for both pilots and flight attendants. The large building had classrooms, simulators, model aircraft of the cabin, and offices.

Once we arrived at the training center, Keira and I sat next to each other in the classroom. The classroom had 20 chairs for the twenty airline pilot trainees. The class consisted of twenty-five males and five females. Everybody made fun of Keira and I for being the class couple, but we weren’t going out with each other. People in our class believed we did, but we haven’t.

I may have a small crush on Kiera but, training was too intense for us to even think about that. After a few minutes of distinct chatter between all of the trainees, a man in a suit walked in and began to speak to the class.

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to your final day of training, your exam. This exam will consist of two parts an oral, and practical. Once you pass your oral exam, you will then be tested on the flight simulator. Once you pass both, you will get your airline transport license, where you can fly and work for BlueSkies Airlines. Does have anybody have a question?”

I looked around, and no one had a question to ask.

“Great, you will line up in a single line into the hallway, where you will take your oral in the office with your name in front. Good luck everyone.”

Everybody stood up and lined up in front of the door, which led to the hallway. Everyone started to go into their rooms until I found mine at the end of the hall with “Skyler Clayton” on a piece of paper stuck to the door. Before I walked in Kiera walked up to me, and whispered into my ears. “Good Luck Skyler.” I replied, “Good luck to you too.”

I walked into the room, and a man was sitting on the other side of the table. I sat on the other side of the table, and the man began to speak.

“Good morning, you must be Skylar Clayton?”

“Yes, I am Skylar; nice to meet you.” I shook the man’s hand.

’It’s a pleasure, Skylar. I am Patrick Hammond, I work for BlueSkies Airlines as a Captain, but I also represent the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and perform these tests. Are you ready to begin?” I nodded my head, yes, and the exam started.

During the oral exam, the inspector asked me several questions regarding the rules and procedures of flying the plane. This exam was very scenario based that looked into the causes and effect of the aircraft. After an hour of being asked questions, the oral exam is complete.

After we finished the exam, Mr. Hammond wrote on a notebook for a few minutes until. A few minutes of writing in his notebook, he looked at me.

“Well Mr. Griffin, you passed the oral exam with flying colors!” Mr. Hammond exclaimed. My heart was pounding for a few minutes before telling me that I passed. This was the hardest part of the exam because it’s answering questions for over an hour orally.

After finishing the oral exam, Mr. Hammond and I walked into one of the simulators of the training center. The simulator is of an Embraer 175 aircraft, the aircraft I’ve been training on for the last three months. After entering the simulator, we both fastened our seatbelt.

The practical exam is focused more on hands-on exercises. Instead of answering questions, it’s now time to fly in the simulator. The practical exam has begun as we flew the simulated aircraft out of the Denver Airport. Mr. Hammond asked me to perform several maneuvers. He also simulated engine failure at several points of the hands-on exam. The purpose of this exam was to figure out what to do when a specific situation happened.

After taking the practical exam for two-hours, the exam finally came to an end. Mr. Hammond and I walked back to the office where the oral exam was. We sat down at the same places as before. This time, my arms were shaking. I was so nervous that I didn’t pass the exam.

There are times when you know you passed, but you needed to hear the results to feel better. After a few minutes of writing in his notebook again, he hands me a piece of paper. It was a small piece of paper that stated “Temporary Airline Pilot’s Certificate.”

I passed the exam! As soon as he handed the temporary license over, I cheered. “I passed the exam!” Mr. Hammond laughed and congratulated me. Three months of studying did pay off, and I am officially an airline pilot. I’ve waited for this moment for the last three years of flying as a private pilot and being a flight instructor.

After the exam, everybody gathered back in the classroom. The only person I didn’t see was Kiera. After ten minutes of not seeing Keira in the room, I was anxious that she didn’t pass. Few minutes pass, and she finally walks into the room. She ran right up to me and started screaming.

“I passed my exam!” Keira shouted.

“Congratulations Keira. I knew you’d pass this test. See, and you worried all along.”

Everybody in my training class passed the exam, and we were ready to graduate. Our instructor, Stacy Wright, came out of her office and congratulated us.

“Congratulations everyone. You passed. As of today, you are now officially a first officer for BlueSkies Airlines. Take the night off, enjoy your night, and be back for graduation in the morning”.

Everybody cheered and started to walk out of the room before Stacy interrupted us.

“Listen everybody. Tonight, you will receive calls from your supervising captain. This is somebody you will be flying with for three months. They are going to be your supervisor. They will also tell you, which base your assigned too. Base choices include Denver, Seattle, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, and Atlanta. This is the city you will be commuting or moving too. Have a good night everybody.” Stacy walks away.

I forgot that I was going to be assigned a supervisor. I also forgot that our bases were going to be assigned. This is where I will be moving too, after going home for a week after graduation tomorrow. I hope that I was going to be assigned a good base. This is somewhere I’ll be living for a while until I gain seniority.

On the bus ride home, Keira and I were talking about where we’ll be assigned too. Most graduating classes ended up assigning all of their trainees to the same base. I hoped to be assigned to the same base as Keira because we are really good friends.

When I got back into my hotel room, I took a nap for a few hours. That was something I didn’t do for the last three months, because of all of the studying I had to do. The nap I took after my exam was refreshing. After my nap, Keira and I went out to celebrate passing our exam.

We took an Uber to downtown Denver and ate at this restaurant called Danny’s Diner. It was a popular destination downtown. For dinner, Keira dressed up in a pretty blue dress. Keira also put some makeup on, which I haven’t seen from her for the last three months. It shocked me because I was used to seeing her in our uniform.

Danny’s Diner sounds like a restaurant that has a 50s theme, but it’s true. The diner had round tables with a silver edge. All of the chairs and booths were red. Every table had a jukebox, that controlled the music for the entire restaurant with classic 50s music such as Elvis, Ray Charles, Paul Anka, and more.

Keira and I sat right next to each other in the booth. Keira looked amazing tonight. I felt like I was connected to her. We never had the opportunity to hang out like this because of training, and we finally have the chance to do so. After eating dinner, Keira and I shared a banana split sundae.

After having our sundae, Keira placed a quarter into the jukebox. After putting a quarter in, she selected a song. I asked Keira.

“What song did you choose?”

She looked at me and smiled, “You’ll see.”

“I hope that you and I are assigned to the same base. It would be cool being close to each other”.

Keira smiled, “I hope so too. There may be a chance that we may not get it, but I want to get to know you more Skyler.”

I began to get the goosebumps after Keira told me that she wanted to get to know me more. She seems like she’s into me. I’m honestly not sure because we haven’t interacted with each other until now. I only know the basic details about her. I only know that Kiera is a 23 years old girl from Charlotte, originally wanted to be a flight attendant, but got her pilots license instead.

A few minutes into our conversation, the song “Put Your Head On My Shoulder” by Paul Anka came on.

[Put your head on my shoulder, hold me in your arms baby, squeeze me oh-so-tight, show me that you love me too]

Keira blushed when the song came on. “Hey Skyler.. this is the song that I chose”. Keira moved closer to me and placed her head on my right shoulder. When Keira put her head on my shoulder, I let her do it. I couldn’t believe she did that and chose the song. It’s the perfect song for this perfect moment]

[Put your lips next to mine dear, won’t you kiss me once baby? Just a kiss goodnight maybe, You and I will fall in love]

I then tapped Keira on the shoulder. She removed her head from my shoulder and looked at me with her pretty brown hair and brown eyes. I then got closer to her and began to kiss her. She accepted the kiss from me and kissed me back.

A few seconds after Keira and I kissed, my phone began to ring. The caller ID had an anonymous number.

“I’m sorry Keira, I need to get this call.”

Keira insisted that I pick the call up.

“Hello? This is Skyler Griffin”

“Hi Skyler, this is Alexandra Coleman from BlueSkies Airlines. How are you doing tonight?”

“I am doing well Alexandra, thanks for asking.”

“You are welcome. Well, congratulations on passing your exam. You are officially an airline pilot.”

“Thank you very much.”

“You are welcome again. You are polite. I am here to let you know that I’ve been assigned as your supervisor. You will be based out of my base, which is Seattle.”

I then cheered in my mind, because Seattle was my number one choice.

“That is awesome; thank you so much, Alexandra.”

“You can call me Alex; I will see you at your graduation tomorrow, sorry for interrupting your evening.”

“See you tomorrow, thanks.”

After hanging up on Alex, I told Keira the excellent news.

“I was assigned to live in Seattle! Yes!”

Keira cheered, “That is awesome, that is also my number one choice.”

Keira got closer to me and began to kiss me again. This time, we made out for a minute. A few seconds later, her phone starts to ring. She picked it up immediately.

Keira talked on the phone for a few minutes and ended the call. Keira didn’t look too happy.

“What is wrong Keira?”

I knew at that point; we weren’t assigned to work out of the same city.

Keira began to cry. I then asked her. “Did you get Seattle as well?”

She shook her head no.

I asked her, “Where are you going?”

She finally replied, “I am going to Chicago.”

I started to feel nervous, because this may not work out. I comforted Keira by laying her head on my shoulder as she cried. I even grabbed a napkin and wiped the tears off of her face.

“Keira. Don’t worry about this right now. Let’s have a great night, and enjoy this time as much as we could.” Keira nodded her head, yes, and we began to ride back to the hotel.

We got back to the hotel at 10:00 pm. After the drive, Keira started to feel better. We both went into my room and hung out for hours. Keira sat on the bed next to me, as we watched the movie Airplane. It was one of my favorite movies, a classic humorous film.

After watching the movie, we both fell asleep. Keira was about to walk back to her room, but I invited her to stay with me for the night because this was our last night hanging out together.

Tonight was both a perfect and sad night. It was perfect because I fell in love with my best friend from training who I spent the last three months with. It was sad because this was going to end immediately because we were moving to two separate cities after training.

Keira fell asleep in her blue dress as I laid on the other side of her. I was about to reach over and hold her, but I didn’t know if she was going to like it. I overrode that decision and still decided to hold her. After putting my arms over her, she began to pull me closer and placed my hand over her chest. A few minutes later, we fell asleep.