Finding your path to LIFT: Discover your Second Career 

Finding your path to LIFT: Second Career

Everyone starts their career in aviation from a different starting point. Some know their path right out of high school, while others opt to launch a career in aviation as their second chapter. Whenever you choose to start, LIFT is a great place to launch your career and it makes starting that journey easy. To learn more about what it takes to become a pilot as your second career, we talked to Katie Alexander, a CFI at LIFT.

Getting Started

Katie didn’t start in aviation. She had a 15-year career as a chemist by trade and had an MBA in Finance.

“I knew very quickly that all I could think about was flying and it was really exciting,” Katie says. “I had the opportunity here to show my son that it’s not too late to go after a dream and a second career.”

After doing lots of research, she decided that LIFT was the right fit and joined the team quickly after that. While the transition from being the manager at a laboratory to being a student at the bottom of the totem pole was difficult, it was also exciting because she learned how to work hard in different ways.

Why LIFT

Katie is very analytical and says, “I encourage anybody to come look at LIFT. We could be an incredible fit for you to have a career in something you dreamed of doing and never thought was possible.”

When researching other schools, Katie found many reasons to choose LIFT over other options. “LIFT is a prestigious school, talk about Ivy League,” Katie states. “The quality was going to be unmatched.”

Being based in Indianapolis played huge parts in Katie making her decision, especially with being a single mom, she isn’t easily able to move around.

The main thing that set LIFT apart from other flight schools was its connection to Republic and the ease with which she can go from being a LIFT student to a job in Indianapolis as a CFI and then building her time to then have the opportunity to get a job at Republic once she completes all her hours.

The Path

LIFT provides graduates with opportunities to build the 1,500 flight hours they’ll need to become a First Officer at Republic. These pathways include:

– Working as a CFI, or other Instructor (i.e., MEI) at LIFT

– Flying with Bridge Air

– Flying with Part 135 Partners like Cape Air and Gen Jets

– Flying with Brickyard Connection

Katie talks about how she is able to get in her hours, by getting open block sessions and working on her own every day on the things that she needs to.

“It wasn’t untough, but I just made sure that I worked in study time and was really specific about that,” Katies explained.

Final Thoughts

Katie shares this advice for someone that may be considering joining aviation as a second career.

“Make sure you come do a discovery flight with LIFT and that you’re excited about it. Having a long-term plan and looking at what finances or resources you need is important. I know that I want to be a Republic girl for the next 5-10 years, and while aviation is uncertain, I’ve become excited to see what it has in store for me.”

Are you ready to start planning your future? Learn more at flywithlift.com