August 2019 Student of the Month
Meet Jon Schjei, age 33, from Minnesota.
Student of the Month for Kona for the month of August was awarded to Jon Schjei, a 33-year old Minnesota Native currently working on his Private Rating.
Everyone has that moment, that moment you know “I WANT TO BE A HELICOPTER PILOT” and for Jon he shared it was “I think it was about 7 or 8 years ago. I was flying hang gliders in Santa Barbra CA with my good friend Dave Brose. Another guy flying with us, can’t remember his name, was a Heli Pilot. He told me how much he loved it and how he could get paid to fly around. So a year or two later I went to a school In Santa Rosa CA called Helico for a discovery flight and fell in love myself. “The next step was to select a school, Jon said he researched almost every school in the country, “finding Mauna Loa Helicopters to be one of the best schools that exist, plus it’s in Hawaii made it a pretty easy decision.”
Getting to know Jon a little more we found out his favorite helicopter is 7158 Sierra “its powerful!” He then told us about an off-airport flight with Paul, a search for the cinder cone. The mission was successful, “I found a cinder cone I wanted to try to land in and we were able to do it. It was cool. I really love the diversity of the students and instructors. Also all the beautiful things we can see around the island.”
Obstacles, we all have them and Jon had a chuckle when we asked him about his “Haha well, I had to work full time, move away from my family to a beautiful island in the middle of the ocean, start all over making friends, and find a quiet place to rent so I can study in peace. I took about 2 years from the point I moved to the island to be able to start Training at Mauna Loa. Best decision ever.”
Advice Jon would like to share with new prospective students thinking about starting their aviation career “Don’t give up. Work as hard as you possibly can at achieving the goal. Not everyone is fortunate enough for the opportunity to become a pilot. “
Speaking of goals, we asked Jon what is your long-term goal as a helicopter pilot. “That’s a tough question. I would really love to end up doing search and rescue. But along the way, I’d also like to be a heli-ski pilot, fly pig hunters around in Texas, or maybe even work for Redbull.” Adventure awaits this man.