When Matt Ketter was offered an opportunity to join the American Flyers Mechanic Internship Program he hesitated. A couple of days later he was listening to a pair of recruiters from another company. The first speaker talked of making tons of money with their company doing a somewhat risky job. Students started signing up like crazy. The second speaker told them if they had a dream, they should follow it. That advice stuck with Matt. He called up Rick and asked if he could still join the American Flyers team, because his dream was to be a pilot.

Soon Matt was headed out to the east coast for six weeks of training on the specifics of the Skyhawk. During his 5th week he learned that he would be needed at the West Chicago location, and was soon packed and on his way to DuPage Airport. Moments after he arrived he jumped right in and started working. Matt hadn’t anticipated how much responsibility he would hold. His responsibilities included managing the shop and hangar; making sure that the airplanes were safe to fly; performing inspections and ordering parts in a timely manner; and studying and training for his pilot certificates and ratings. The independence he was given was balanced by the responsibility he had to take.

As he became accustomed to the routines of his new life, Matt quickly learned how to prioritize his responsibilities and manage his time. His position as an intern mechanic for American Flyers gave him some unique travel opportunities, like flying to Florida a couple of times and out to Morristown, NJ. Flying in different kinds of weather and terrain environments bumped up his experience level, preparing him for the unknown opportunities in his future.

It was a year and a half ago that he arrived at DuPage, and now Matt is finishing up his instructor training. Soon he’ll be teaching full time and earning the experience he’ll need for his wide open future in aviation. He’s not sure exactly what he wants to do but being part of very large airline doesn’t appeal to him much. He’s thinking about mission or bush flying, or maybe a position as a corporate pilot. Whatever opportunities do come his way, he is sure his experience in the internship program will serve him well.