Going into my link internship, it definitely was a place where you need to have the right skills to work with. Being around the environment at the hangar was like any ordinary day for me as I am always around aircrafts. I have always had the skill of knowledge of aviation and the mechanics of aviation so the skill to know that was very helpful. Both these skills were very helpful here at my link because we are constantly around aircraft and taking things apart to do maintenance. One of the most important skills I brought to my internship was a grown mindset of brainstorming. This was very helpful for my project to design and propose a idea of an airshow of the summer 2020 at Durango airport.
Reflecting on my internship, I did not gain any new abilities and skills there at Highland Helicopters however, I gained more experience with the skills that I brought in. For my skills of aviation knowledge, I have gained way more experience and more knowledge in that field. This will be helpful in the future and will be used for my next few years of my aviation jobs.
I had a lot of road blockages through my link which made me push through and push farther. One of the biggest problems I had was to find time to meet the required hours each week. Each week everybody had to have a minimum of 40 hours of internship. As Highland Helicopters is a privately owned business and they have a life outside of the hangar, they do not operate 24/7 and was difficult to meet everyday at a specific time. How I managed to push through this problem was to work at home and brainstorm ideas for my proposal for the director of Durango Airport. Another challenge I came across was the final part of the project and to meet Tony the director of Durango Airport and propose the idea to him. I hate talking to people I don't know let alone ask his permission to develop a multi thousand dollar idea and for him to support it. Though this was very hard, I pushed through it and blocked out the nervous part in my head and enjoyed talking to him like he was a friend.
I think that having a chance to develop a mindset and to get a picture of what you want to do in the future for your career is a fantastic idea and having this supported by a link internship mentor was even more helpful. Having a chance to find what you want to do in the future is something that everyone should have a chance at and especially at Colorado Highland Helicopters. Though I am not the most crazy about helicopters, many people are and giving them the chance to have an internship and do fun activities with them is something important for their future career.
Though this internship was surrounded by the field of helicopters and not fixed wing planes that I fly, I have learned things that I can take into my life when I start my own aviation charter jet business. Having a internship with a business that started their own business from the ground up was truly a once in a life time experience. This internship has prepared me for not only the side of helicopters and the mechanics behind it, but to be pushed out in the real world and experience the business world such as speaking and proposing a very expensive idea to Durango Airport. With these skills that I have learned over those 3 weeks, I will bring them in the real world and use them for future jobs! I plan of using the aviation knowledge and bringing it into my future jobs which would b ranging from being a small corporate jet pilot to being an airline pilot.