Flying high in your job is something we all aspire to, but there are some professionals who do it day in, day out.
Captain Steve Scott knows more about it than most. The Cayman Airways pilot is now moving on to work for the Civil Aviation Authority after 30 years with the national airline.
His last day at Cayman Airways was on Saturday, 13 November, flying from Cayman Brac to Grand Cayman, then Miami, back to the Brac and finally Grand Cayman.
“On arrival in Miami I didn’t know that the station manager there had arranged a water-cannon salute so that was a surprise for me. I also had the Premier on board, who congratulated me. There was another water-cannon salute at the Brac and I had family on board for the last sector, where I knew they’d planned the customary water salute.
“But as I pulled up to the ramp I saw this entourage of people with safety vests on and I thought, ‘Oh, what did I do now?’ But then I recognised they were there to greet us, including the deputy premier and [senior Cayman Airways staff, pilots, friends and family]. It was a good surprise and it had been as perfect a day for flying as it gets; clear skies all the way, everything worked fine, according to schedule. It was really an enjoyable day even though it was a bitter-sweet moment,” said the captain.
Passion and drive
The captain knew from a very early age that he wanted to be a pilot.
“Flying is one of those specialised things; you have to have the passion to want to do it. From three years old I knew I was going to fly aeroplanes and that passion and drive was there; I knew what I was going to do. You must commit to it. It’s not a cheap profession to get into.
“I started with Cayman Airways fresh out of flying school in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in February 1981, working at Cayman Brac ticket counter. It’s a small hub so I did a bit of everything, then moved to Grand Cayman a year later working in flight operations until I was hired as a pilot in April, 1983.
“Cayman was quite different – tourism was just starting to catch on, the main hotels were Holiday Inn and Galleon Beach – we didn’t have those high-rise condos; aviation was quite different and there wasn’t as much competition for Cayman Airways although it depended quite heavily on the tourism market. We also did scheduled charters to Boston, Chicago, New York and at one point we were doing Club Med charters on a seasonal basis so I got exposed quickly to other places rather than just regionally in the Caribbean,” he said.
Unforgettable moments
One of the most unforgettable moments was being able to watch the launch of the Space Shuttle from 35,000 feet.
“I was over Cuba heading toward Florida and all of a sudden we saw this glow and realised it was the Shuttle. We saw it go all the way up, watched the booster separate, the whole nine yards.”
In those days, it was still possible to invite the public to view the cockpit and on another memorable occasion the actor James Woods was on-board, flying down from New York to Grand Cayman.
“I went back to say hello and he asked if he could come up; he sat in the cockpit and chatted with us,” recalled the captain, who said that he fully understands the more stringent security procedures that have been introduced since 9/11.
“From the first day it happened I realised, like a lot of people in aviation, that things would never be the same again. This decade has seen a lot of changes, in particular a big perspective change about aviation – that this could never be allowed to happen again,”
National airline
Like everybody, Captain Scott has a view on the national airline and has an insight a little closer to the on-the-ground operations than most.
“There’s always been a debate as to whether we need the airline. Beside the security of knowing we have airlift when we need it, Cayman Airways provides competition to the other carriers and keeps the fares in check. Look at certain destinations like Turks & Caicos where there’s no option and see what the fares are there. And we don’t need to go into what it did after disasters like Ivan.
“Every time a Cayman Airways plane touches down it identifies Cayman Islands and is exposure for the country. There again, everything has a price, everything has to be affordable so we need to weigh the benefits, know what it’s given us as a country and decide how much we want to pay for that,” he said.
Moving on
Captain Scott is now moving to the Cayman Islands Civil Aviation Authority in a career step he had been thinking about taking for several years.
“It’s the other side of aviation; the regulatory side. Over the last 10 years with Cayman Airways I’ve been in one position of management or another – chief pilot manager, flight training, flight operations quality assurance.”
He said it has all prepared him for his new job that oversees flight operations of the 200 planes flying worldwide that are registered to the Cayman Islands.
“I feel so fortunate to have been able to have this opportunity, to be able to live a dream. Cayman Airways gave birth to my career and because of it I’m able to move on to another side of aviation. I’m no different to the average Joe out there flying; we have some great talent in this airline and I was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time to have the opportunities that I did.”
“I’m ready to move on to another phase of my aviation career. I am very fortunate to be in the right place to be given these opportunities, to have the skills. I’m looking forward to learning about the other side of the coin.”
Related Videos
