Aviation


Panelists

Brian Counsil:

  • President/CEO of Sun Air Jets (private jet company in Camarillo with 100 employees)

  • Earned history degree at UCSB and law degree from UC-Davis

  • Worked for Arthur Anderson accounting firm

  • CPA, tax attorney, accountant in aviation field

  • Brian Counsil has been with Sun Air Jets since its inception and has helped grow the enterprise into a world-class airport operation and international jet charter company. www.sunairjets.com As an aviation tax attorney and accountant, Brian leads the legal, tax and financial aspects of the business. Brian holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Davis. The Counsil family is pleased to have had 3 students in OPHS, the youngest of which is a graduating senior this year.

Cari Miller:

  • 1st officer for Fed Ex, which is a great job

  • Master's degree from Xavier and undergrad degree from College of Mount Saint Joseph

  • She wanted to sell/market aircraft

  • Marketing Director at a flight school and became a chartered captain

  • Cari Miller is a native of Key West and an MBA graduate of Xavier University. Her flying career started as the marketing director/ student recruiter for an accredited 141 flight school. Wanting to combine her love of aviation, sun, and fun... Cari relocated to Los Angeles and started an aviation sales and marketing company providing affordable marketing solutions and website development for her clients. Additionally, she fell into gig working in television as a DIT and assistant camera on shows for Discovery, VH1, MTV, History, BBC and more. All the while, she was flying as an instructor, ferry pilot, and skydiving pilot while selling and ultimately flying, business jets. Once selling business jets, Cari segued into managing and flying business jets for clients. In 2019, Cari interviewed for her dream job and was hired by FedEx. She is currently a first officer on the MD11 where she flies with her husband, Skip Stewart who is a captain on the plane and world renown airshow performer. They spend their non-flying time living in Memphis... breeding show horses, renovating vintage cars, and building airplanes.

Corey Reynolds:

  • 1st officer (co-pilot) for American Airlines (AA) now and major in Air Force Reserves

  • Undergrad degree in industrial systems engineering from RIT in NY and earned his MBA

  • Left Air Force about 1 year ago and joined AA

  • Corey Reynolds grew up in the Adirondack Park region of upstate New York. After receiving a B.S. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the Rochester Institute of Technology, he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and worked for Boston Scientific, a medical device manufacturer. He then decided to pursue his dream of military aviation by attending Air Force Officer Training School in Montgomery, AL where he earned a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the United States Air Force. After a year of rigorous training across the southeastern United States, he completed Undergraduate Pilot Training and earned his wings. He spent the next decade leading Airmen and flying a variety of aircraft responsible for executing electronic attack and special operations mobility missions around the world. During his flying career, he held many positions including Aircraft Commander, Instructor, Evaluator, and Functional Check Pilot logging over 1,000 combat hours. He separated from active duty as a Major and continues to serve in the Air Force Reserves as an Air Force Academy Admissions Liaison Officer. Corey currently indulges his passion for aviation as a First Officer flying the Airbus A-320 for American Airlines based out of LAX. Corey is a husband, and father of a Red Oak Elementary 2nd grader and kindergartner.

Career Paths

Mr. Counsil's Career Path:

  • Pursued law degree based on his father-in-law's profession

  • He liked transactional work more so than litigation and enjoyed tax work.

  • Aviation industry found me, but I'm not a pilot.

  • After Arthur Anderson, introduced to high net worth family that owned Sun Air Jets.

  • Handles financial and legal affairs for clients' 2 airplanes and helicopter.

  • Became President of Sun Air Jets eight years ago

  • He handles all of the family's legal needs: estate planning, purchasing/selling of real estate, contracts/legal transactions associated with running his clients' family business

  • A lot of different business roles for people with a law degree.

  • Very few people leave the aviation industry once they're in it.

Ms. Miller's Career Path:

  • Her best friend's dad was a fire-bombing pilot and role model of hers.

  • She met flight instructors and decided to pursue Marketing Director and Recruiter roles for a flight school.

  • You don't have to be in the military or have a parent in aviation to pursue a career in this field

  • Father figure in Key West introduced her to air show community

  • Her husband is a captain for FedEx and they often fly together.

  • FedEx is likely the last job she'll have.

  • Being a pilot has been described as "best part-time job in the world"

  • Many people set their sights on working for FedEx ("FedEx or Bust" mentality)

  • She does a lot of recruiting/aviation consulting

  • To become a pilot, all you need is a 4-year degree. It doesn't matter what your major is.

  • Good to have a fall back if you need to spend time outside of the aviation industry.

  • FedEx is a recession-proof type of company and allows its pilots to be involved in recruiting, marketing, side businesses.

  • Aviation programs are well-rounded, but expensive. Worth pursuing if it's what you love.

  • Plenty of pilots have part-time jobs, such as consulting, coding, etc.


Mr. Reynolds' Career Path:

  • His passion for aviation centered on the military

  • Exposed to military aviation in his senior year of college

  • Completed engineering degree and applied/accept at Air Force pilot officer training

  • Natural follow-on to become a private pilot

  • Airline pilot lifestyle was better for him once he had young children

  • You need a 4-year degree to be commissioned by the military.

  • Pursue whatever you want to study and then pilot training after you finish your degree


Rewards and Challenges

Mr. Counsil's Career Rewards/Challenges:

  • Loves what he does. Has an invitation to stay with this family forever and can work for them as long as he'd like to.

  • Owners of private jets are unique and tend to be entrepreneurs, company owners, visionaries, high net worth individuals.

  • Clients in real estate, manufacturing, etc. and interesting window into their world.

  • Highly demanding industry

  • Some clients don't take "No" for an answer, but aviation is governed by safety and regulations


Ms. Miller's Career Rewards/Challenges:

  • Schedule is a challenge and reward

  • Flexibility to select your schedule, but seniority-based system

  • All morning flying, on call, must be able to adapt to an unpredictable schedule

  • Worst part of the job is spending time away from home

Mr. Reynolds' Career Rewards/Challenges:

  • Starting his 2nd year as a pilot.

  • Low seniority and basically on call all of the time

  • Working every weekend and free during the week

  • Working ½ of the month and not working the other ½

  • Industry instability (like with COVID) and something seems to happen every 10 years that results in decreased passenger demand

  • Would like to spend the rest of his career with AA

Advice for High School Students

Mr. Counsil's Advice for High School Students:

  • There are many different employees/jobs in this industry, including charter sales, dispatchers, mechanics, pilots, accountants, human resources, customer service, in flight cabin service (flight attendants)

  • Start from the ground up and invest in the industry

Ms. Miller's Advice for High School Students:

  • Manage expectations

  • Zero to Hero (commercial license can take a year)

  • Residency period when you're a grunt (even once qualified as a commercial pilot)

  • You'll spend 2-5 years gaining the # of hours (1,000) to be a 1st officer and 1,500 hours to be an airline transport service

  • This occupation takes time, dedication, hard work

Mr. Reynolds' Advice for High School Students:

  • Manage risks/expectations

  • Challenges in the past, present, and future will be different

  • Decide on aviation as soon as possible

  • Focus on something outside of aviation as a Plan B

Final Remarks

Mr. Counsil's Final Remarks:

  • I wouldn't have done anything different

  • I feel lucky and grateful for my current job

  • History was a passion of mine that I studied in college

  • While I don't practice law, I'm glad to have a law degree

  • Important to understand tax component for high net worth individuals

Ms. Miller's Final Remarks:

  • On reserve/standby some of the time

  • Her husband works 4-7 days/month

  • Took single engine aircraft on a transatlantic flight

  • Owned her own aircraft and had all kinds of flying opportunities

  • Finish flight instruction with company you started with

  • Took her 10 years to get her required hours, but she's grateful for the career path she has had

  • Was at flight school on 9/11/2001

  • Opportunities today are far easier and more financially fulfilling compared to years ago

Mr. Reynolds' Final Remarks:

  • You're paid an hourly rate based on the number of flight hours worked

  • There is a maximum number of flight hours that pilots can work and there is mandatory rest after 7 days

  • Bid process every month. You find out your schedule 2 weeks ahead of time at AA

  • If you have high seniority, good odds of getting the schedule you want

  • If you have low seniority, low odds of getting what you want

  • There are 2 different paths: 1) civilian; 2) military

  • By the time I left the military, I was qualified for being a civilian pilot

  • I've gotten a lot of value from my career path, but there are easier and faster ways of becoming a pilot (by not pursuing active military first)

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