Kenny Keller was at a gas station heading to his first CFI job when he heard about the 9/11 attacks. Flights grounded, his school shut down, but he pushed hard to find other instructor work and keep flying. He shares it as a lesson in persistence for pilots facing setbacks.
Where were you that day 18 years ago? Man, I got up this morning, I wasn't even really thinking about it. I picked up my daughter for school, we're home on lunch break and she asked me in the car, where were you 18 years ago when you heard what happened? And man, not thinking about it, you know, it brings goosebumps right to you immediately, right? And I distinctly remember exactly where I was at. Jennifer's mom called me. I was at the gas station getting ready to drive to my new CFI job, right? I worked all that time, all that headache and heartache to get to where I was at and had just started this new job up near Chicago and I was at the gas station getting gas when Jennifer's mom called me and said a plane had just flown into the World Trade Center. And you know, it didn't really click right at first, right? And I had no idea what was going to continue to happen. And I started towards that job. I had like a two hour drive to get to work. And they called me from the airport and said, dude, don't even come up here because, you know, everything shut down and there's snipers on the roofs. And I can remember going to my stopping at my dad's house that was on the way and going in and just watching in freaking amazement or bewilderment. I don't know the words. I mean, and it's interesting telling my 16 year old about it. I don't remember anything in my lifetime that was as just craziness. God, how do you even explain it? For those of you that remember it, most people watching these videos are flying and probably remember what were you doing? Where were you at when you heard telling Gloria about it going? Nobody, nobody knew, right? And even when I first heard a plane had flown into one of the buildings, okay, you know, I can remember hearing a story about, you know, a plane hitting, I think like the Empire State Building many, many years ago. And it was a weather related thing. So I remember thinking, well, it's a beautiful day out, you know, well, of course I'm miles away, but still, you know, who could fathom, who could fathom what was going to continue on to happen over the next several hours? And I can remember just sitting watching the television in amazement with my mouth hanging open, just going, oh my God. And trying to explain it to my daughter, you know, and she said, yeah, and all those people the night before were just home, you know, enjoying time with their family, no idea of what was going to happen the next day. And I said, you know, it changed. Changed the world, you know, changed the world for a lot of us. And you know, I told my daughter, I said, you know, it makes you realize how minute so many of our problems are, right? And when you think of a tremendous tragedy like that and the lives lost and the people and the families that, you know, lost loved ones. And I just want to shoot this video real fast while we were home for lunch because I just, you know, explaining to someone who my daughter is 16, you know, she only sees in video, right? Here's the stories. But, you know, it just made me realize that, you know, my little problems. I've had all these headaches the last week and a half and stupid stuff going on and God, it makes it all seem so meaningless when you take a moment to think about tragic events like that. And I guess to put it a little bit of, to the training part of training in our careers and going to become helicopter pilots, just think about that for a second. You know what? I. Let's see how I want to say this. I mean, I had just got my first CFI job. I'd worked so hard for so long, then waited for that CFI job like many of you had to. Or maybe right now you're waiting to get your foot in the door, you got your CFI and you're going to, dang it, I can't get hired. You know, those are small minute problems, right, Compared to the big picture. But it took, It was hard for me then to move on, right? Because right at first, like, what do you do? You know, the place that everything's shut down, nobody's flying. And even when we could start flying again, the school that I was at, you know, students just dropped off. Nobody wanted to fly. There was nothing going on. There was no way for me to make money. And that's when I got on the horn and I got on the emails actually and just started emailing every single flight school I could find that was within a three or four or five hour drive. And I just started going like a madman and just reaching out to him and telling him who I was and what my background was and that I was ready to get my career started and I'd be a hard worker and I would do what it took and luckily ended up getting a job when nobody else in the country, hardly anywhere was doing anything. I found this flight school that was busy and I got hired. So I guess what I'm trying to say is, you know, if you're struggling and you're trying to get there the stumbling blocks, you know, there may be many of them. You'll hit one, and then you hit another, and you hit another, and you just keep going. And you got to sell yourself. You got to be the best you can be. And that's, you know, all about what we're trying to do and helping people with their everyday training and little motivational pieces here and there for careers and trying to keep moving forward. So, you know, and every time you get down and I try to do the same thing, right, I get all frustrated over what Our problems seem so big. And then when you think about it on a big. The big scheme of things, these little things that bother us day to day are just tiny little annoyances, you know, when there's tragic events like that, when people lose their lives and families lose loved ones. So. All right, let's know down below where you were that crazy flipping day. Unbelievable. All right, like, subscribe. See you in the next video. This was day247, I believe. I'll double check that. Peace out.
