Taking Flight: Martin's Journey

At the age of 5, I can vividly remember looking up at my dad in his suit and tie with an wing pin inserted onto the right side of the lapel on his jacket, as he walked up the driveway to our house. As my lips spread from ear to ear, I would see two huge arms reaching out in my direction. Instantly his hands were beneath my arms, and I could no longer feel the earth beneath my feet. My stomach had this anxious, queasy feeling as my head tilted backwards and my arms reached out from side to side as far as they could go. It was at that moment that, I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wanted to be a pilot.

My name is Martin Miller, and I am currently one of the few black airline pilots for Continental Airlines. My inspiration was my dad, he was in the Navy for 20 years and when he retired from there he went to United Airlines and spent 30 years there. He never flew a plane but just being in that atmosphere, around the planes with him, influenced my desire to become a pilot and that desire never left me growing up. So now, that is where I am, flying the big ones.

My dad was my role model he always instilled in me the value of giving everything I had to everything that I do. Always give 100 percent don’t give anyone a reason to take something from you that you want, he would say. I always knew to stay on the 'Smart Guy' path, which for me included earning good grades and staying away from the wrong or negative crowds. I knew what I wanted to do when I grew up since I was a child and I didn’t want or let anything throw me off that path. I studied hard while my friends were outside playing. If my friends wen't out partying, I knew I was staying away from that. I never thought of it like living like a smart guy, but I just focused on doing what was needed to get to where I wanted to be and to achieve my goal. I always weighed options before I made a decision to do something, what are the pros and cons, what will my dad think or what would he do in that situation. That hesitation kept me out of a lot of sticky situations and that is what I think distinguishes the 'Smart Guys' from others, their ability to think before they act.

I must tell you that it was not easy, and that there were many barriers that almost stopped my dream. One was the fact that I had asthma and I found out that the military didn’t take pilots that were asthmatic or had a history of it. I thought that I would never fly because the military was the only way I knew one could become a pilot for the airlines.  As I went through high school and I began to participate in sports, and my asthma didn’t bother me much, I thought that I had grown out of asthma. After speaking with a few people in the flying industry, I was informed that if I was healthy enough to play football, I could pass the physical training portion of the process to get in flight school. At that point I was rejuvenated and pushed forward with my dream. I began looking into the Air Force ROTC programs at San Jose State. As different things happen through college and one thing led to another, I started researching the civilian route to fly and ended up leaving the ROTC program to take the civilian route. I took a chance because if things worked out the way I planned, I could be flying 10 years earlier than the military route.

Another barrier for me was the entrance policy to become a pilot. To be selected, you had to be at the top of your class, graduated from college, and top of your ROTC program. Those guys take the top slots for the pilot positions and if you go the civilian route it has a lot to do with luck, who you know, timing, and skills. Unfortunately, the skills will get you to a certain point and then you have to hope that you approach the airlines are a time when they are hiring. It took a lot of hard work, focus and dedication to get to this point. I had some help and made connections with OBAP (Organization of Black Airline Pilots) to get me to Continental Airlines. They helped to get me on the same page as a large corporate organization and taught me things like how to interview to make sure I was ready when opportunity arose.

I am the first and only pilot in my family and that is a big accomplishment for me. It goes back to my dad believing in me and giving me that extra pushing to be the best because he knew that is what I wanted to do, and that I could do it. I get a lot of joy when I see people of color step onto this plane and see me, an African American man, as the pilot of their flight. Most of them look at me with a look of wow, some come up to me and shake my hand, some give me a smile, and some say congratulations. Some of my co-workers will look at me and they do not understand what happened. I tell them not to worry about it. I get joy out of knowing that these people trust me with their lives and getting them to their family, friends or business engagements. For the most part people of color are happy to see other people of color in high positions like this because you do not see a lot of us in these places. The numbers are growing thankfully. The number is still incomparable to the majority of pilots but I am proud to say currently here at Continental we have quite a few. I think it is good for the youth of all colors to see what we are doing. When I was little I can’t recall ever seeing a pilot of color and if I had it would have gave me even more drive to achieve that goal. Now that you have myself and a handful of other pilots at different airlines, it may just give kids of different nationalities and ethnicities hope to become a pilot one day.

Some of the good decisions that I had to make to get to where I currently am are in the Smart Guy creed. I stayed away from drugs. Not only would my dad have tore up my tail up if I had gotten involved in that, but I knew that I couldn’t make it to be the pilot I wanted to be if I got involved in all that negativity. Being completely focus on getting grades was what my dad stressed; the importance of getting straight A’s to separate you from everyone else. I couldn’t let anything like drugs, partying, getting involved with the wrong crowd or alcohol affect my dream. I kept my eye on the prize and stayed away from things that I knew could possibly hinder me from achieving my goal. I took that approach to everything. I wanted to be an airline pilot and I wanted it bad. My parents always drilled in my head if you want something as a young man of color you have to be one step above the rest, you can’t give anybody any reason to tell you no, because some people will be looking for that reason when you walk in the door to turn you down, don't give it to them. You have to know that some people are going to try to stereotype you and put you somewhere you don’t want to be, my mother would say. If you have a great foundation, you can say I have the skills and experience and I want this job and there won't be anything they can tell you to keep you away.

My advice to young people first and foremost is to never give up on your goal or dream. Go to school and get the best grades you can get, go to college get a degree. It’s hard to get there but the gratification trumps all of that hard work. For me, that gratification came when the guy called me up from Continental and told me that I had the job, I was going to officially be a pilot! There it was, I did what I had set out to do as a kid. I accomplished my goal, and it was one of the best days of my life. So don’t just settle, because if you do you will be miserable. Figure out what it is you want and push for it with everything that you have and don’t let anything stop you from achieving what it is you want to do.     

A 'Smart Guy' in the sky,

Martin

The little 5 year old boy, whose first flight came from his dad wings, now leads other little boys and girls including his son and daughter on flights all over the world between the wings of 737 airplanes.