Success and sadness

Two days later, I was at the office when my cell phone rang. You guessed it. 902 area code. Not possible. They can’t possibly be calling. I ran into the hangar to answer the call.

Sure enough, I had now advanced to Phase 3. I was scheduled for a drug test the next morning, and was told my references would be called.

I got the drug test out of the way quickly enough, and then the waiting began. Unfortunately, this was now the time when I had to tell my current employers that they might be getting a call from Jazz checking my reference. I played it down, saying it was a “long shot” and this was just “preliminary”. But I think they probably knew better.

Long story short: over a month went by following that third call. I made contact with a few other Jazz candidates through AvCanada, and most got their job offers within a couple weeks. While I had sworn I would not be disappointed if I was turned down, it was hard not to feel a whole mix of emotions during the month of March.

I went off to Summerside PEI and Blanc-Sablon QC with Greg in PXL for the harp seal survey. A junior pilot was given the flagship Twin Commander instead of me. My resolve to find a new job strengthened a bit more on finding out this tidbit of information.

The seal survey was both fun and upsetting. Flying with Greg and our colleague from Fisheries was really a blast. Lots of laughs and easy-going flying over the sea ice. But on the other hand, others in the company seemed determined to make our hard work look bad in front of the client, something we both resented. Bad feelings continued to rise, especially when the Commander departed with almost no cargo on board, leaving us and little PXL to carry everything home ourselves.

And still, no e-mails or calls from Jazz. If I had been unsuccessful, I would have received an e-mail stating as much. So “no news is good news” was truly the only optimistic fact I had to hang on to.

Suspense got the better of me at one point, and I called Jazz to let them know I had been out of town and wondered if they were trying to reach me. The girl said no, they had everything they needed, and that while “nothing was confirmed”, I would be looking at a May start date if I was selected. I felt a little better upon hearing this. I wasn’t out yet.

March passed, and spring season was now upon us. I was in the office on a cloudy day after the Fisheries job, in between highways jobs, trying to tighten some little bolt that had come loose on the back of the Ultracam sensor in PXL.

My phone was in my pocket. It rang.

I halfheartedly pulled it out of its case, expecting another one of those junk calls telling me I had won a cruise or I could consolidate my credit card debt or some such thing. I’d been getting of lot of those lately. How do these places get my number anyways?

Area code 902.

No… couldn’t be. Can’t be.

While sitting crouched there in PXL’s cabin, the now-familiar friendly voice of Samantha informed me that Jazz would like to offer me a position flying as First Officer, and outlined the pay and schedule structure. I was standing by the hangar door when I accepted the offer.

Wow.

The most surprising part was that she told me they had room in the April 23 class, if that was enough time for me. That was only 18 days away.

Hell with it. I’m taking it.

I tearfully informed Lisi that I would be leaving, and wrote a heartfelt e-mail to my boss resigning my position as Chief Pilot (he was in Ecuador at the time). The next couple weeks went by quickly, filled mostly with local highway flying and incoming paperwork from Jazz.

My last day at Airborne Sensing was an emotional one. The reality of what was happening was finally starting to crash in. Alex made a really nice speech and everyone gave me a card wishing me well. Lisi gave me little potted plant. I will miss them all. Frustrations are always forgotten when something better comes along.