Mike Jones Now Blog

It still feels like winter to me! Just landed in Detroit this morning at 9:30 and it was freezing. In Charlotte, my home town, they were hit with thunderstorms and tornado’s. The weather seems to get crazier every year and that makes for some interesting flying. We were on our way to Kansas City the other night when we had to divert for a mechanical issue. The weather was bad enough that we had to do an instrument approach to the runway and the instrument that we use to guide us down the proper path to the runway did not want to work very well.

After we realized this, we had to execute a missed approach and divert to were the weather was good enough we could land visually. That is when the real fun began, after talking with our maintenance people and our crew schedulers the plan was to wait on the terminated aircraft coming in from Chicago and then we would take that one back to Kansas City. The only problem was that is was not due in until 11:00. My day had started about 6:30 that morning, so I was growing a little tired by this point.

Unfortunately, the airline or the people do not care if you are tired or not, they just want you to get everyone from point A to B. Well, we did get the people to Kansas City, but the passengers that wanted to go to Chicago had to wait another day. Once we arrived in Kansas we were to tired to continue and had to call in fatigued, which really angered our passengers. Everyone cares about safety until it directly effects them. Sometimes the right thing may not always be the popular thing to do. I have found this to be true at work and in life.

When I was a first officer, I could not stand flying with captains that had no back bone and would not stand up for themselves or the crew. Sometimes you have to make difficult choices on the job and in life, but be the one making those choices, do not let others dictate your direction. I enjoy helping others in my industry do just that, in order to make good choices you need good information to base your decisions on. Get informed on the issues that are important in your life and take action to make those things that are not right, better.

I have seen and read this comment many times as I am sure you have as well. Is it a true statement? I have worked with and known many brilliant people in my short lifetime and only a few have achieved true success. You must take action with the knowledge that you have in order to be successful, so I would say that the power is in the implementation of knowledge. Knowledge with no action is like an airplane with no wings, it will not go very far at all.

All of us are capable of acquiring the knowledge that we need to be successful, but only a few will act on that knowledge. I have been working with airline professionals to help them to take action and implement change in their life. Invest in yourself, always be adding value to yourself. Educating yourself and taking action is by far, the most powerful thing you can ever do. I would love to hear from some of you guys out there on the line. What are you doing, how do you feel about what is going on in our industry, in our country.

How safe and secure do you feel? Is is time to make a change and take action in your life? Step outside your comfort zone and try to think out of the box for once and see what can develop. Drop me a comment on your over night and let me know what is going on and what is important in your life now.

Fly Safe

Well it is day one of four yet again, man where does the time go? I was running late again as usual, don’t get me wrong, I am very punctual, except when it comes time to go to work. I guess there are some physiological issues going on there for sure. I just try to milk every last minute I have with my family. I am sure that most of you can relate!

We can always make more money, but time is something that we can never get more of. That is why I believe and encourage people to strike out on their own and have their own business. If it is done properly, you can structure it in a way that eventually it will run on auto-pilot and you can just sit back and reap the benefits. Use your free time wisely and set up a side business and put a little extra time in to it everyday and watch what can happen.

There are a lot of get rich quick schemes out there, so please be careful when choosing a business to dedicate your time to. My blog site is dedicated to helping people in the airline business with issues that are concerning to them. I just completed an interview with Dr Tom Duncan, a local chiropractor that shared with us some helpful advice on back pain. Dr Tom informed us on what chiropractic care was, why we may need it, some exercises that we can do to strengthen our backs and much more. Be sure to get your copy when it becomes available.

Back pain effects over 80 percent of Americans and is the number 1 complaint among airline crews. If you have experienced or currently have back trouble please listen to this interview with Dr Tom. Next week I will be talking with Russ Jones, a veteran airline pilot with US Airways and a Diamond in the Mona vie business. Russ knows the importance of having a side business and after only two years working Mona vie part time, he is generating an additional income of over 200,000 a year. This is one interview that you do not want to miss!

Just landed in Detroit, MI. It is 930am and I am done for the day, not bad if I were at home! My First officer and Flight attendant went to their rooms to sleep the day away. It really does not bother me what other people do with their time, what bothers me is when they complain non stop about their situation.

No one in the airline industry makes too much money or gets too much time off, no one! It does not matter if you fly airplanes for a living or work in a factory, everyone deserves to have a better quality of life, but most are just too lazy to make it a reality for themselves and their families.

Put some time and effort into something other than your job, the best investment you can ever make is in yourself! Contact me and I can tell you a couple of things that I am involved in that are working well for me and do not consume a lot of my time.

As many of you pilot types know, back injuries are the number 1 complaint among airline crews. This week I will be interviewing Dr. Tom Duncan. Dr Duncan has successfully treated many airline pilots throughout the years and will be offering some advice on what you should do if you have back troubles. Also, what you should be doing to avoid trouble in the future and stay healthy. I will make this interview available on my site for those that are interested.
Fly Safe

Lately, I have been seeing more and more pilots wearing the new Bose Q15 headsets. The aircraft that I fly does tend to be a little noisy  at altitude, so my old Telex 750 really did not do the job. I used it for many years until someone liberated it from my flight bag or maybe I might have left it in the aircraft before going on vacation, I am not sure exactly. What headset would you recommend and why?

We do get some descent discounts on some of the aviation supply websites. The only one that I have found the Bose on is Crutchfield. Any other sites or stores that you have found these headsets on please drop me a comment and let me know. Dave from the Threesixleft.com forum, said that he would have paid double for his Bose after wearing them for just one day and I just read a comment by Steve on the Airlinepilotforum.com, that he cannot believe what a difference they make. He wished that he would not have been so cheap and bought them earlier.

Let me know what your thoughts are. Fly safe, off to hit the gym for bit and then to bed. Another 400 am wake up, at least it is day 4! Go Home Day…

I know that 2009 was a disappointing year for many of us to say the least. It is time to start focusing on the present and forget the past. You have a choice to make, commit to making 2010 your best year ever or go back to status quo. If you want more success in 2010 then you need two things;
1. A successful mindset
2. A solid business strategy with a product customers want
That is what I would like to talk with you! I would like to discuss these two items and give you a basic blueprint to follow that will blow away your status quo. Make 2010 your best year ever!