Steve Burgess of Willis Wall Multimedia is also pilot for a major airline. Like many pilots Steve has been cultivating "Plan B" using his degree in music and loads of creative talent.
"...A few years ago I found myself reading the local paper every morning to see if my airline was in fact still doing business. This on top of losing half of my pay and benefits and watching my retirement fly away. I found myself wondering, if I couldn't fly, or if there were no flying jobs available, what would an over 50 type do to send two kids through college and pay the mortgage? Aside from aviation, I have no marketable skills to offer, so I decided to experiment with my interests and see what happens.
I have a background in music and some passable skills in video/editing, so I'm in the throes of trying different things in these areas to see what paths may appear. "Show me the money" has not happened, but I don't expect that for a few years. I find myself utilizing the talents of our pilot pool, first borrowing skydiving footage from one of our captains to produce "UFO", which won an award at the Banff Mountain Film Festival, and this year using the pilot pool for "actors" in a goofy climbing musical. The jury is still out on this one, but I'm finding that pilots possess a wide variety of hobbies, skills, and business acumen..."
