Happy Thanksgiving, amazing members of Flying Musicians Association! I am extremely thankful for this wonderful community of musical aviators. As we approach the holidays, I can’t help but reflect on 2023.
2023 was a unique year for me. For starters, I was extremely lucky to receive the FMA Solo Scholarship, plus I began my college career at Santa Clara University, I worked as a ramp agent for Delta Air Lines ( at San Jose International Airport), and I was honored to receive an EAA Advanced Air Academy Scholarship through EAA and VAA (Vintage Aircraft Association) squadron 393 and 29 respectively ( I will do an article on that wonderful experience shortly), and so much more.
Given these amazing experiences, I want to focus this article on the amazing and rewarding opportunity I had as a Delta Air Lines Ramp Agent (through Unifi Aviation LLC).
At the time having just graduated high school, I knew I wanted to work around aircraft but had no idea if the airport would hire a freshly minted driver and high school graduate at just 18 years old. It seemed like an impossible stretch, and so I was not expecting any job offers. Regardless, I met the requirements and so, I applied to every airline ramp agent position there was at San Jose International Airport (my local airport) along with every flight school in my area at my local commercial and general aviation airport. Though I didn’t receive any job offers from my local general aviation airport (Reid Hillview Airport where I am flight training) I got the call back from two different airlines/third party companies at San Jose International Airport. I was beyond thrilled, and so I weighed my options happily and prepared myself to give the airport my all!
The one company that stood out to me was Delta Global Services, and therefore I accepted the job offer and began training. Training in the airline world can be arduous at times, it can be very time consuming, and things move very slow. But there’s a good reason for this. As a ramp agent you are entrusted with high value-sometimes irreplaceable aircraft and the livelihood of its passengers and their belongings (sometimes their livelihoods and pets), thus you are required to meet an extremely high standard of systematic perfection similar to the way pilots operate in the cockpit. So, expect lots of training modules, classroom, and on the job training, because it’s only right you are trained in every aspect to the highest standard. Heck for the first month of paid regular work you’re on “probation” as a trainee. Also expect the background check, drug testing, and airport badging process to move slowly. It’s a government process that has to go through many layers, in high volume.
But as an aspiring commercial airline pilot, this was all extremely, extremely worth it! I was entrusted in loading and unloading thousands of bags a day, servicing aircraft to the likes of the A320-200, 737-800, 737-900ER, EMB 175, A220-300, and A220-100, all of which I gained a tremendous amount of technical knowledge on as we were required to train for each aircraft prior to servicing them.
The best part is your working in an environment surrounded by things you love, planes, and so time passes by very fast. I even took on overtime, working 13-hour shifts into the early morning until the last flight of the day landed, because I loved what I was doing! You also aren’t doing the same repetitive tasks every shift. As a ramp agent you are trained to wing walk, marshal, connect and disconnect all sorts of wires, tubes, and units, drive the ground service equipment, clean the cabin, service the lavatories, operate the luggage carousels, load baggage carts, and so much more. Perhaps One of my favorite roles was to be the right-side wing-walker.
To me, being the right-side wing walker was one of the most interesting roles. For starters we wing walked the aircraft as it pushed back and spooled up its majestic engines, but the right-side wing walker also has a special responsibility no one else has: they are the disconnect/connect person. This meant that I got to do the most avgeek thing ever and show the fight crew the steering pin before waving goodbye, I got to disconnect and connect tow bars from the nose gear, detach the headset, and so much more. Each aircraft had different towbars and systems for towing too, so you learn a lot about all types of aircraft. For example, on the A320 and 737 family we were to insert a steering pin to give us (on the ground) steering control of the nose landing gear, while on the A220 family the flight crew had a switch in the cockpit they could manually hand control to/from us. With the E175 family, there was a switch we manually flipped on the left side of the fuselage just below the cockpit. There was so much unique variety and hands on learning experience I received as a ramp agent.
As an aspiring commercial airline pilot and for all the avgeeks out there, it’s our dream to be around aircraft, to work with them, to service them like they are ours. We have a personal connection to every aircraft no one else has. We have our rituals of geeking over planes, and we have our shared sense of sheer excitement and happiness when we are put around these aircraft. So, to be able to work as a Delta Air Lines ramp agent has been a dream come true for me, and it is one very fond and important step in my journey to the airline cockpit. My advice for getting such a special job is to go for it. Find your local airport, and apply to every job there, airline, charter, or flight school; commercial airport, general aviation, or business airport alike. Apply to literally everything. Search it up on google just type your airport followed by the word jobs, and search on a recruitment site like JSfirm, Google Jobs, Indeed, ZipRecruiter, and more and check every airline and ground handling companies like Unifi Aviation, GAT Alliance Ground, Fenix Logistics, Airport Terminal Services, Alliance Ground International, Swissport, and more. Don’t take the job requirements at face value; if you can apply to them. It doesn’t hurt. Broaden your scope, if you can’t be a ramp agent you can be a ticket counter worker, a receptionist at a flight school, a fueler, and more. I got a job I never thought I would, so try, it’s your passion, your dream, nothing is a stretch.
Below is a myriad of cool videos I was lucky to capture out on the ever exciting, ever beautiful, San Jose International Airport-Delta Air Lines Ramp! I hope you all enjoy!