WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — There are now ten new pilots in Polk County after completing a flight training course with Blue Line Aviation. 

It’s just one more group that will help alleviate the ongoing pilot shortage that continues to persist in the United States.

Even if you didn’t know what Joel Brooks accomplished, you’d look at his mustache and aviator glasses and say, “yeah, this guy’s a pilot.”

What You Need To Know

  • The United States is currently dealing with a pilot shortage, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

  • Despite this ongoing issue, flight schools like Blue Line Aviation in Winter Haven are adding dozens of new pilots into the career field, with ten brand new pilots becoming certified at the end of August

  • In response to the shortage, Congress, back in May, allocated over $200 million to try and alleviate the burden
  • According to Blue Line's CEO, Trey Walters, Blue Line has created dozens of jobs and helped pilots achieve over 500 certifications just in 12 to 13 months

“I was never confident enough to ever do a mustache,” Brooks, a newly certified pilot from Blue Line, said. “So, I started doing this. And then, you know, I jokingly did it one day, like I had grown my beard out a little bit, and then I just shaved it down. Just to the mustache, just to see what my wife would say, and she was like, you know, it doesn’t look too bad.”

Before checking out these planes at Winter Haven Regional Airport, Brooks was living in Georgia with his wife and baby.

After spending some time working at places like Chick-Fil-A and in operations for Delta Airlines Global Services, Joel had loftier dreams of becoming a pilot.

“We always at our anniversary, we talk about hopes, dreams and desires and I told her, you know, this would be like, you know, a crazy hope, dream and desire that I could, you know, do one day,” Brooks said.

He says thanks to love and support from his wife. They took the leap, moved down to Polk County so Joel could train at Blue Line Aviation to become a certified pilot.

“Kind of career 2.0 for me coming to do this,” he said.

And the career field he’s now pursuing is welcoming him with open arms.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there will be about 17,000 open pilot positions over the next several years.

Congress, in response, earmarked $240 million in May to help with the ongoing shortage.

Brooks said people in the industry told him he wouldn’t have any problem finding a job.

“It just seemed like a prime opportunity to jump in,” he said.

After seven and a half months, he was one of ten graduates to become pilots at Blue Line.

A number that, fortunately for commercial aviation, continues to rise, according to Trey Walters, Blue Line’s CEO.

“We’ve got, I think, 12 or 13 based airplanes here right now,” Walters said. “We’ve created dozens of jobs, and we’ve helped pilots achieve more than 500 certifications just in 12, 13 months.”

Not to mention that Blue Line just added several new aircraft to its fleet for training.

“Just to see that this is a thriving industry still and seeing us as Blue Line,” Brooks said. “Be able to get awesome aircraft, to be able to fly aircraft like this is really, really cool.”

Even as the industry deals with shortages, the new crop of pilots taking shape here in Winter Haven makes it clear that as long as there are planes to fly, folks, like Brooks, will gladly get in the cockpit to fly them.