[Seeking Wisdom]

Hopefully not many pilots reading this will ever find themselves in this position, but after 22 years and well over 10,000 hours I have had an accident. I never thought it would happen to someone like me. I was a required crew member on a midsize jet that overran the runway in a heavy rainstorm. We all walked away from it but now I am seeking another job and I see that some companys will not take someone with an accident on their record. The million dollar questain is, should I look into changing careers, or keep looking untill someone sees that I still have many years of safe flying left in me, and are willing to give me another chance? I would like to find out from those in charge of hiring, if you would hire a pilot that has had an accident. Also if you have had an accident, how difficult was it to find employment.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

[AOA]

Hopefully not many pilots reading this will ever find themselves in this position, but after 22 years and well over 10,000 hours I have had an accident. I never thought it would happen to someone like me. I was a required crew member on a midsize jet that overran the runway in a heavy rainstorm. We all walked away from it but now I am seeking another job and I see that some companys will not take someone with an accident on their record. The million dollar questain is, should I look into changing careers, or keep looking untill someone sees that I still have many years of safe flying left in me, and are willing to give me another chance? I would like to find out from those in charge of hiring, if you would hire a pilot that has had an accident. Also if you have had an accident, how difficult was it to find employment.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Seeking Wisdom,

I have been in corporate aviation for my entire flying career. Early on, I had an accident. It was not an accident in a corporate airplane (happened while giving tail wheel instruction), but I was employed as a corporate pilot at the time.

I was worried about this for many years, but have found it has not hurt me during interviews for several good corporate jobs since then. I have always freely admitted to having had accident and offered to tell them about it. Some have not even asked much while others have wanted to know what happened and what I learned from it. I have always been honest with my answer and made sure to tell them that I was responsible and what I learned.

In my experience they will be most interested in your attitude regarding the accident and your willingness to be open and honest with them about it.

Best regards,

AOA