Mox Nix

Great post Albie

Anyone can say what they want about the snake oil aspect of Darby's operation...but I'll say this:

Before there was Airline Pilot Central, before there was FltOPs.com or willflyforfood, before there was much of anything like that on the internet, (before there was even much of an internet), there was AIRInc (and before that, I think Kit had a company called Future Airline Pilots of America). But it's the Airline Pilot Careers magazine where I learned all about the commercial airline industry when I was a young AF crewdog. Who the good companys were, how the unions worked, what the schedules were like, the resume and interview process. Myself and MANY other military guys read his magazine and used their services. In that respect, I think Darby was a pioneer...the many other counseling services out there now are most likely people (like Albief15) who wanted to improve on a trend that he started.

...Or maybe he was just the only one I knew of because his magazine was so prolific and I didn't know anything else about the industry. Regardless, I think he's done a lot of good for a great many people. Good luck in your retirement Kit.

B757200ER

Agree, Darby was a pioneer. His seminars helped me, as well. He was a principal at FAPA, but left in the early 1990's to start AIR,Inc out of his garage in Peachtree City,GA. He brought over a bunch of talent and built his business to truly large proportions in the pilot hiring BOOM in late 90's, early 00's. His Pilot Job Seminars and Job Fairs sometimes had as many as 600 pilots, which made it difficult to chat with all the airlines recruiting, but must have been good for business. I learned quite a bit from them.

FAPA was a decent service, had a good magazine, and even published a newsletter. But, the newsletter was famous for having months-old information that was no longer current or viable. If you called FAPA on the phone for assistance with small stuff, like airline fax numbers or addresses, they'd refer you to their counseling hotline, which was $1.50 per minute or something. AIR,Inc would always give you info for free over the phone, sometimes even if you were'nt a member. I tried talking shop with people at FAPA, but they were usually short with me. The lasting impression I had from FAPA, and Kit's partner there (Louis Smith), was not a complimentary one. Louis would fit the description of 'snake-oil-salesman' much better than Kit, and he was arrogant as well. Guess who is the principal at FltOps.com?