Expert: David A. NewMyer - 11/4/2005

Question
Mr. NewMyer,

I am a junior Aviation (Pro-Pilot) Major at Oklahoma State University, and I was wondering what internship opportunities were open to me for this next summer. How does one go about finding an internship, and do you know of any good ones? Location may or may not be a factor (as my parents might foot the bill for this). Thank you.

Answer
Hi, Cathy:

Thanks for your question, I will try to assist!

I would suspect that the first place to begin in terms of finding a flight-related internship would be with your home aviation department and/or aviation faculty at OSU.  I would check with the Department office about any formal agreements or arrangements that they may have in place for internships.  Or, barring that, check with your department office or faculty to see which airlines, FBOs, flight training companies, etc,  have hosted OSU students in the past as interns.

In general, I do know that there are flight operations internships at airlines such as American and Southwest.  I believe that, once United is out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, they will begin offering internships again in the flight area.  Check with the flight operations departments of each airline to see what is available.  They are normally available each semester.  Also, when you go on such an internship, make sure you have your multi engine rating completed as they may put you into a simulator for one of their aircraft and you will learn more if you already have the basic MEL rating.

I hope that this is of assistance to you.  Follow up with any additional questions via Allexperts.com

Best wishes,

Dave NewMyer, Ph.D., Professor and Chair
Aviation Management and Flight
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
http://www.aviation.siu.edu