Why We Fly

Carolinian exercises his people skills

"High Flight," John Gillespie Magee's famous poem about flying, begins, "Oh I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth and danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings." The poem concludes, "And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod the high, untrespassed sanctity of space, put out my hand, and touched the face of God."

For Ryan Ramos, flying is that and more. "The view from below can't compare to the view from above. I almost know what it is like to look through God's eyes," says Ramos, 26, of North Carolina.

As someone who spent much of his youth on the move--he had lived in 15 states by the time he was 13--Ramos traveled often on commercial jets. His father was a professional polo player, which meant that the family typically moved every four to six months as his father played for a patron or sponsor for a season and then moved on to another patron. Even though he grew up around horses, Ramos did not want to make a career of polo. Flying was the thing. "I always had to have the window seat, see the cockpit as I walked in, and know what was going on," he says. "I absolutely loved going to the airport."

Ramos attended the University of South Florida for a year, then decided he needed to do something more before settling down. He became a volunteer for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and spent two years in Argentina. When he returned to the United States in 2002, Ramos enrolled at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, where he was a member of ERAU's competition flight team and earned a degree in aerospace studies.

After graduation, the path from ERAU led to American Airlines, where Ramos became a flight operations intern based in Miami. But even though he loved the big jets, he did not want to spend his career in a cockpit. "I am very personable and enjoy conversing and meeting other people," he explains. "I felt confined in the cockpit of an airliner. If I didn't like the person flying next to me, it was going to be a long, silent trip."

Fortunately for Ramos, he quickly found the niche that allowed him to combine his interests. One afternoon in 2004, he attended an aircraft open house at Miami International, and it was there that he discovered Premier Aircraft Sales, a Diamond and Mooney dealership. "The company was just beginning to grow and they really didn't have a position to offer me," he says. "I told them they could hire me at an intern's salary--which is the next step up from free--and come fall of 2004 I was an intern." Ramos became involved in every aspect of the business--attending trade shows, doing demo flights, and helping with customer service and sales coordination. He got a full-time position in 2005, and in 2006 was made sales representative for the South Florida region. Today he is regional sales manager for Diamond aircraft in the Carolinas.

The position affords Ramos many opportunities to fly with customers, and he has traveled with a buyer in a Diamond DA40 to the man's home in Brazil. Though the scenery was spectacular, he recalls, the best part was getting to know the customer and his family.

Ramos takes pleasure in each flight he experiences. "Never are two flights the same. I have flown to some very exotic locations and have seen the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets from the air."

Jill W. Tallman is associate editor of AOPA Flight Training magazine. A private pilot since 2001, she has approximately 450 hours.