Possible Internships?

pilotmike327

pilotmike327

Well-Known Member
It's been a crazy past few weeks for me but long story short, I got accepted to USF here in Tampa, FL and since my family lives here, I'm really thinking about going and knocking those 2 years out so I can have a bachelors. I know later on in life I'm going to thank myself for doing this...I hope. I already have an Associates in Science in Aviation Administration with a focus on Air Traffic Control (CTI program) and the regular AA. The bachelors I'd be working on is basically an independent degree which focuses on Economics and International Studies. Really thinking about picking up a 3rd language while i'm there (I'm looking at you, German).
As far as my dispatch license, things got very complicated and have decided to go to IFOD and do the 5 week course. What I'm trying to do is knock out that license before fall classes start (and it looks like a very good possibility). My biggest concern is that after I do get my license, I'll be in school for 2 years. Here's where a possible internship could come into play.
I know many of the major airlines have internship programs, but I haven't been able to find any that specifically deal with flight operations/dispatching. I found one for United that says flight operations but the requirements lead me to believe that it's for pilots who are interested in flying with United (commercial license requirement, multi preferred, etc).
So I guess this leads me to 2 questions:
1) Anyone know of any airlines that do semester internships specifically with flight operations?
2) If I wasn't able to find an internship, should I wait to get my dispatch license after I graduate college? Would getting the license now and then applying for a dispatching job 2 years down the road hurt my chances at getting hired?

Thanks in advance everyone!
 
1) I actually think Southwest has an internship for dispatch (or something in their OCC) but if I remember correctly, the internship is only during the summer, and the opening is posted in the January-March time frame.
2) As long as you have your dispatch certificate, you should be fine. Just make sure you stay up to speed on the knowledge, when you actually get an interview, you'll be tested heavily on the basics. I have a co-worker who dispatched for a regional, then went to work ground ops for several years, then came back to dispatch at another reigonal without any issues.
 
+1
Getting your license now would not be a bad thing if it fits your schedule. Might I suggest that if you're from FL that you head south to Sheffield. It's closer and if you're really concerned about sitting on your license for a couple years you have the Sheffield name riding on your résumé as well.
 
Southwest has a great internship program in what seems to be most departments (including dispatch). Frontier Airlines had a great program before Republic took over. Don't know off hand if its still up and running. From my internship experience with the airline with the animals on the tails you can really do what you want for the most part. If you ask and have a great interest in dispatch they will put you in the SOC. Same as if you want to be a pilot they will put you in the chief pilots office. You just have to voice your opinion with programs that arn't super structured like some postings that just say "Internship". It was a very good experience for me and helped my overall direction with my carrer.
 
I would recommend going through the university to see if you can latch on to an airline in FL like Spirit, Silver, National or perhaps Allegiant because quite a few have "special relationships" with certain universities. From experience Hawaiian relied on University of Hawaii, while Netjets had Ohio State and some of them are now working for them. Especially since you would be looking for a fall internship, most companies only post for summer openings on their websites.
Here is a flight ops internship in Sanford, FL with Allegiant but they want you to get a BS in Aviation and have multi-engine experience so I don't know if it would work: https://www9.ultirecruit.com/ALL1015/jobboard/JobDetails.aspx?__ID=*712CF3939296ADED
 
Thanks for the replies everyone. So I was able to switch the start of my semester to Fall instead of Summer B and found out that same day that I'll qualify for the 2 week course for my dispatch license. This works perfectly for me because I'll be able to knock the license out in July and then start classes in August. Once classes start, I'll really start looking into the internships. I have 2 years of school ahead of me so I'm sure I'll be able to find something in that time.
 
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