Scott Gerszewski was featured in the February 2006 issue of Twin & Turbine magazine, where he penned the article “NBAA Through the Eyes of a 12-Year-Old.” In the story, the precocious aviation-obsessed pre-teen talked about the cool aircraft he saw at the business aviation show and his hopes for a career in the cockpit.
“As long as I can remember I have always loved airplanes. Ever since I was a little boy, machines that could cruise in the air at 31,000 feet and more than 300 knots have been just amazing to me,” is how Gerszewski began his published essay on the joys of flight and what his future could look like.
Now, he is flying Airbus A330s for a major airline on international routes. Along the way to his recent transition to the airlines, he worked as a pilot for a corporate flight department for five years – an opportunity that he forged by building connections in the industry, starting when he was young. What has Gerszewski been up to for the last 17 years, and what advice does he have for youngsters hoping to become professional pilots?
“From a schooling standpoint, I did a combination of part 141 and 61 flight schools. Pretty standard training in that aspect. But outside of that, I was always really passionate about aviation and had a good support system at home and a family that liked flying. I also stayed involved with annual airshows and trade shows. It’s a very unknown secret that students can get great discounts on tickets to most of those events, and so I would attend those as often as I could.”
A common theme of Gerszewski’s career success can be credited to networking. He doesn’t classify his tactics as such, as the phrase “networking” can often be seen as stuffy and disingenuous.
“Networking is a tough word because it sounds like you’re passing business cards. Instead, I’ve maintained relationships at all these shows and really had a blast with it,” he began before offering his sage advice.
Despite working on a different side of the aviation industry now, I remain passionate about corporate aviation, especially the opportunities it can provide for companies, passengers, and employees.”
– Scott Gerszewski
“My simple tip for any individual starting out in aviation is just to say ‘hi.’ That’s my motto now because of the experiences I’ve had – it makes a difference. [When flying corporate], we were based three hangars down from a university flight school. Our operations were always there, with the hangar doors open and pilots working. It was interesting seeing the number of students, many of them aspiring corporate pilots, who would walk by and never say anything.”
“The students who simply said ‘hi’ to us had the most success. They didn’t query and say, ‘Hey, do you have a job for me? or, ‘Hey, can I do this or that?’ They just came over and simply said ‘hi’ and then built a great relationship. This led to some incredible flying opportunities for them and opened so many doors that wouldn’t have been opened otherwise.”
Similarly, building and maintaining relationships led Gerszewski to his first flying job behind the yoke of a Pilatus PC-12. Briefly highlighting his corporate experience, he explained that when he joined this flight department – it only consisted of one aircraft. When he left in mid-2022 to pursue his airline career, he had become the chief pilot of the Part 91 flight department, which had grown by several aircraft and included a Pilatus PC-12, an Embraer Legacy 500, a Pilatus PC-24, and a Citation Latitude. The department will also be adding a Gulfstream G650 in the near term, he stated.
Regardless of the cool aircraft he was flying and the unique destinations he was visiting, Gerszewski always had in his mind that he would one day transition to the airlines.
“Like I mentioned in my original article, airline flying has always been my goal, and so I knew I would be making that transition at some point. I aspired to fly corporate aircraft, but I assumed I would not get the opportunity to do so until I had gained extensive turbine experience after an airline career. Fortunately for me, I was able to go through the process in reverse. Corporate flying was the best learning environment for my aviation career. It made me a well-rounded pilot and employee. I really enjoyed the galvanizing process there.”
“With the cyclical nature of the airline industry, however, I had to make the difficult decision of ‘now or never’ and decided to transition to airline flying due to the unprecedented demand for pilots,” he explained. “I still had the goal to fly widebodies internationally for a major carrier sometime in my career.”
In hindsight, the timing of his jump couldn’t have been better as Gerszewski became the first pilot in his new employer’s history to be assigned the Airbus A330 out of new-hire pilot training.
“The tools and the work ethic I had in corporate aviation made it possible for me to [move into the airlines]. Many roles are required of you in most Part 91 flight departments, and you sometimes need to wear 15 different hats at once. The ‘jack of all trades’ mentality of having to fly several types of aircraft was a tremendous learning experience for me and helped place my career on a fantastic trajectory. Despite working on a different side of the aviation industry now, I remain passionate about corporate aviation, especially the opportunities it can provide for companies, passengers, and employees.”
