This site is to keep in touch with my students. It is not sponsored by Southwest Airlines.
Welcome, Students! Thanks for visiting my website. I look forward to sharing my travel experiences and discussing my career with you. Check back here often for updates of my travels and questions.
About me: I grew up in a small town in Connecticut and served for 20 years in the Air Force. I have over 7,000 flight hours in Cessnas, military jet trainers, cargo aircraft, and passenger aircraft. I have lived in Colorado, Texas, Germany, Mississippi, South Carolina, Alabama, and Maryland. After retiring from the Air Force, I got a job as a 737 First Officer for Southwest Airlines. I am qualified in 3 models of the 737 to include the smaller 737-700, 737-800, and the newest 737-MAX8. I’m based at Baltimore-Washington International Airport in Maryland.
Reading My Schedule:
Often, I’ll share with you my flying schedule. It includes the flight numbers, how long I’ll be flying and the cities I visit. To read my schedule, you need to know what some of the “codes” mean! The first is the “24 hour clock”. Like the military, pilots use the 24 hour clock. The table below will help you read it. Have some fun and see if you can tell the time of some of thing things you do each day in the the 24 hour clock.
Where Am I Going?
The other code you will need to understand are airport codes. This is a three or four letter code unique to each airport. For example, KBWI is Baltimore Washington International Airport.
This is a great site for looking up airport codes: https://www.world-airport-codes.com/
See below for a typical work day.
I don’t fly the same “routes”. Every month I bid with other pilots for a “line”. That is the schedule for the month. Hard lines have designated cities. Reserve lines have “on call” work days where we fill in on flights as needed. We can also trade trips with other pilots or give them away. This allows us some flexibility to schedule around other commitments we may have. Below is what a month may look like to me.
While 2020 was a slower than usual year for travel, I still got out quite a bit and flew about 630 hours. That doesn’t count “deadheading”, which is riding in the passenger compartment to another city to “work” a flight from the pilot seat. I also have to travel to training in Dallas, Texas at least once a year. Here’s what my flights looked like during 2020:
2021 was a little busier than 2020. I flew over 780 hours. That’s a month of the year spent in the airplane! See below for my 2021 fights.
Besides flying, I have annual training in the flight simulator in Dallas, Texas. It’s a moving, computer display that looks like the real airplane. We can practice different flight scenarios.
View some of my presentations below.
Contact me: firstofficertim@gmail.com
First Officer Tim's Career Exploration Site 