For Dariel Padron, his flying career began January 8, 2008 when he entered the airline program; he began with no accrued flight time. In June 2008, he was hired by American Flyers as a flight instructor. Dariel called the training “quick” and “productive” and he loves what he does. However, the real story begins in the years before he began training. Dariel graduated from Florida Atlantic University with degrees in history and Spanish, but couldn’t find a career that suited him. With many hours spent “looking back” at himself trying to find what it was that moved him, Dariel found himself looking at old school papers and notebooks and realized they bore a common theme; each one was dotted with drawings of airplanes.

Recalling further all the aviation movies he had seen, all the air shows he had been to and all the video and computer games he played, he realized that he had been living the life of a pilot. The only thing missing was the flying itself. As Dariel would say, “I had forgotten I wanted to fly.” His first aviation job was with Silver Express FBO in Miami, and it wasn’t long before he had saved enough money to enroll in a flight training program. Currently, Dariel is gaining experience as a flight instructor, but longs to move on to bigger airplanes. He would like to fly for a regional carrier, “I love twin turboprops,” says Dariel, adding that his favorite is the Beech 1900. While his dream may have been forgotten, it was never lost.