I was sort of in shock when I heard that my instructor for the last several years, one who I use for recurrency work and such, was in Arizona for training with Mesa. I knew I had not seen his car at the FBO over the last few weeks.

Now, this is a fellow who probably exceeded their base hiring minimums by a factor of at least 10. Thousands of hours in the log book, including hundreds of MEL, MU2 time, part 135 work, etc. He's also 50 years old. I guess age 65 retirement will work well for him.

Bottom line: He just couldn't make ends meet by instructing any more.

I called him up as soon as I heard the news last night and wished him well.

I told him to get the job, build up the hours, and once he has enough turbine PIC time to give me a call, and I'll have my captain friend at Southwest walk in his resume!