Today we’d like to introduce you to Pamela Ware.
Hi Pamela, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I don’t remember an age when I wasn’t flying.
My father was an Air Traffic Controller, and we had a cherry red 46 Stinson tail-dragger, so aviation was in my blood. I flew every time the plane flew and anytime my dad was ferrying other pilots’ aircraft.
I always knew I wanted to be a Controller and a pilot. When I was 15, my brother joined the Air Force and became an Air Traffic Controller. That made me even more determined to become a Controller as well.
At 18, I joined the Air Force to pursue my dream job. My sister followed soon after. So, our family had four Air Traffic Controllers. Our mom helped all of us to study, so basically, all five of us were Controllers.
I moved back to the States, dumped the cheating husband, and after some medical starts and stops from cancer, I was again medically qualified to work as a Controller. I worked as a Controller in Florida, Ohio, NM, and Texas.
Three years ago, I was working heavy traffic, my pattern was full, and I was in heaven. My right eye had been itching and felt very dry. I rubbed my eye and realized I had no vision in my left eye. I managed to get my aircraft safely on the ground or out of my airspace and had a co-worker relieve me.
That was the last day I worked live traffic. I was diagnosed with late-onset of MS, loss of vision in my left eye, and reduced vision in my right. I couldn’t fly, couldn’t work air traffic control, and if I walked, I fell. Being told I would never be able to obtain a waiver to work, I allowed myself a week of being miserable, and woe is me.
A week after my world ended, a student pilot I had been coaching asked me to help her prepare for her check ride. She hadn’t heard that I was no longer working and wanted some assurance and help.
I realized I could still be in the aviation world and be of value to student pilots that needed a bit of help. Over the next three years, I had 71 students go through my program, and all but one went on to obtain their licenses.
My friend Meridith Killian routinely sent her students to me. One student she recommended was Kent McRee. Kent is a successful businessman in Frisco. As Kent went through my program, we developed a friendship and talked endlessly about our shared love of aviation. I told Kent of my attempts to get my aviation radio business up and running as a legitimate business.
A few months later, Kent and I discussed starting a business together, and Talk2Tower.com was born.
We teach students from all over the US and use only live Air Traffic Controllers as the instructors. Who better to teach the language of Aviation than Air Traffic Controllers who can stop a scenario and explain the reason for an instruction? You can’t ask for a better teacher.
My life isn’t how I envisioned it. But it’s a life worth living, and I am grateful.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Overcoming losing the job of a lifetime due to medical issues and finding a way to keep my foot in the door.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Talk2Tower.com?
I am the co-founder and Director of Instruction for our company.
I developed the syllabus, training, and scenarios used in the Talk2Tower Aviation Radio Instruction Platform over 3.5 years of training, implementation, and analysis of private radio instruction. I designed and developed it to be an entirely new class of Aviation Radio Instruction. Talk2Tower’s unique program offers fully comprehensive radio instruction that is detailed, concise, and operationally functional.
Conventional aviation radio instruction depends solely on the knowledge of the individual Flight Instructor teaching a student pilot to fly. Appropriate or applicable radio usage is often overlooked because the first area of concern is “flying the aircraft.”
Moreover, Radio instruction is typically learned by parroting the instructor and picking up bits and pieces of information gained on your own. If the Instructor has poor radio skills, the student typically has even more inferior skills.
When monitoring live ATC frequencies throughout the US, it’s obvious that we have dropped the ball and this industry-wide accepted method isn’t the best way to teach a fundamental safety skill.
Like any good language program, our program begins with the basics and progresses to a comprehensive Controller/Pilot dialogue in an amazingly short period. This degree of specialized training can only be taught by individuals who are highly skilled and proficient in the Aviation Language. As such, all Talk2Tower Instructors are FAA-licensed Air Traffic Controllers. We do not use computer-generated simulated Controllers. We teach using live scenarios tailored to the student’s individualized needs. One significant advantage of this approach is the ability to stop a scenario at a student’s request and have the Air Traffic Controller explain the concept or reasoning for an instruction.
The benefits of the Talk2Tower program are undeniable. Still, by far, the most important value is the tremendous increase in safety when a pilot is effective and efficient in communications with Air Traffic Control.
We have an instructional focus on new student pilots; however, surprisingly, our ratio is about 50/50 between new and licensed pilots. We encourage any pilot, student, or licensed needing help to contact us at Talk2tower.com. We can help you just like we’ve helped countless others.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
The airlines report severe pilot shortages and routinely cancel flights, advising that this is the reason. These cancellations customarily leave passengers stranded throughout the US.
There is a 1500-hour flight time to be considered for a pilot position with the airlines. Regional carriers, under the ownership of the big airlines, hire most new pilots.
I believe the airlines will reduce the hours needed to apply for a pilot’s position, leading to a considerable increase in the number of new student pilots seeking an airline job.
Talk2tower.com is there to make the transition from fledgling to Pilot more manageable.
Pricing:
- Ten hours of online instruction with a live Air Traffic Controller, complete course syllabus, and pattern maneuvers is $595.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/talk2tower
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talk2tower/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Talk2Tower/
- Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/talk_2_tower
