There's one constant in Jonathan Sawyer's career--change. Sawyer has had five jobs in four years, holds five jet type ratings, and earned a degree from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to bolster an impressive resume, which highlights his strong drive to succeed.
Jonathan Sawyer |
Sawyer took a leave of absence from Continental Airlines to return to corporate flying at Gama Aviation in Teterboro, New Jersey, flying a Falcon 2000. "I was very lucky to be flying the 757/767 [for Continental] at only 27 years old," said Sawyer. But, "after far too many Atlantic crossings" as a junior first officer, he admitted to needing to catch his breath.
Sawyer has been tenacious about his career since his first paying job flight instructing at Embry-Riddle. After an early graduation from ERAU in 2001, he took a summer internship at Atlantic Coast Airlines, a regional airline based in Virginia. Being an intern at a fast-growing regional helped Sawyer land a job as a CRJ first officer there that fall. Sawyer also networked among the many pilots, instructors, and other employees in the building to get the latest inside information.
As a new-hire FO at a regional, "I was broke, tired, and having the time of my life," Sawyer said. The personal and professional friendships that he built there have paid off in the following years in the form of valuable connections.
Sawyer was furloughed in February 2005 but within a month was flying a Lear 60 for Gama Aviation. In 2007, he left Gama for a five-month gig flying a Gulfstream III for FlightWorks. Compass Airlines, which employed many of the former principals of ACA, called in August 2007 looking for a captain in its Embraer 175 fleet. Just after completing training at Compass, Continental called, and Sawyer took the offer.
Not long after getting hired there, Continental stopped hiring and later laid off 147 pilots in 2008. To keep himself off the bottom of the seniority list, and to save a furlough of one of his fellow pilots, Sawyer took the leave of absence and returned to Gama to ride out the downturn. For now, he enjoys the varied destinations and direct operational responsibility that corporate flying gives him.
Pete Bedell is a Boeing 737 first officer for a major airline and partner in a Cessna 172 and Beechcraft Baron.
