Q&A with Coast Graduate Olumbe Falu

From the Marines to Coast Flight Training to a First Officer at Skywest Airlines

1. How did you first hear about Coast Flight?
I attended a Marine Corps Inactive Ready Reserve Muster held at PETCO Park.

2. Why did you choose Coast Flight?
Coast Flight allowed me to use my GI Bill to pay for flight training which made my dream a realistic prospect.

3. What are some of your favorite experiences you’ve had at Coast?
My favorite experiences were the times where I had the most trouble. My entire private pilot training was nothing but failure after failure after failure. I never once thought that I didn’t have what it took. I knew that I just needed more time. I was blessed to have instructors who never gave up on me and those experiences are the ones that taught me the most important lessons about perservence.

4. What are some of your favorite experiences you’ve had flying?
I got my CFII in September of 2016 which was perfect timing for the wettest winter I have experienced in San Diego. During that time, all of the instrument flying that I got a chance to do was the most exhillerating experiences I’d had to that point. It not only put my skills to the test but it also allowed me to train my instrument

students to the highest levels by incorporating scenario based training and enhanced weather awareness.

Also, I flew to a little airport in Pismo beach with my best friend (who I happened to be giving instruction towards his MEI). We got some beach cruisers at the FBO and rode into town to have burgers at a local spot before flying back.

5. What are you most excited about with SkyWest?
I want to change people’s lives. It’s the little things that matter when it comes to customer service and I want to be the guy that creates a positive and lasting impression on someone. I want people to be as excited about flying as I am.

6. How was your transition from student to instructor at Coast?
In my experience, the transition happened over the course of about 8 months. From the time I had my instrument rating and I started getting halfway decent at flying, I spent a lot of time teaching people what I had learned. I led study groups and even flew with other students well before I become an instructor. I eventually got my Ground Instrutor Certificate and was actually hired as a ground instructor teaching 3 hour or more classroom lectures in addition to one on one sessions. When it was time to take my CFI checkride, I was already an instructor. I believed in myself, I just had to make the examiner believe.

7. Do you have any advice you’d share with prospective pilots?
I would urge pilots at any level to never stop learning. Spend time actively trying to find ways to challenge yourself so that you can get better. It will make you a more proficient and safer aviator.

8. Tell us about your time in the military. What branch and rank were you?
I was a corporal of Marines and was fortunate enough to be able to serve overseas in Okinawa, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Bahrain over a 4 year period. My job title was Bulk Fuel Specialist so I built portable fuel farms and dispensed JP-8 for both ground and air operations.

9. How did you get into photography? What’s your inspiration?
I was always into looking at things. It sounds weird, but if you stare at anything long enough your imagination can take you to some interesting places. You can build stories and worlds in your mind. It’s uncanny, but I’ve been doing that for years and my outlet for my imagination was writing and playing music. Well anyway, I guess I got kind of good at iphoneography (which is like a real term these days). People would compliment my instagram stuff more and more often. It was fun for me, but mostly trivial. Then one day, a fellow student at Coast handed me a DSLR and told me to learn how to use it. IT changed my life. Instantly after looking through that glass I knew that I could actually create art! I was stunned by how much better a photograph could actually look. I guess my goal with photography is share what I see when I view the world. A photographer(s) that stands out to me as a primary influence is John and Debora Scanlan.