Pro CJ Schneider, III RP: What is your current position?
I am currently a standardization pilot for the factory training department, as well as a production test pilot with MD Helicopters LLC in Mesa, Arizona. We specialize in initial and recurrent advanced emergency procedure training in all MD airframes as well as maintenance test pilot courses. It’s the absolute dream job, as I get to work with pilots in such a multifaceted industry. There aren’t a great number of MD pilots in the world, but every single one of them brings something significant to the table and are absolute powerhouses in their career field, and I’m lucky to get to fly and learn from a great number of them.
RP: Tell me about your first experience with helicopters.
My first experience with helicopters was while I was serving in the United States Marine Corps on a deployment in Iraq. Seeing guys in some of the worst possible situations in need of a helping hand, and these guardian angels with big rotors on their heads, popping out to support those frontline fighters and risking their well-being while being exposed to rocket and gunfire. I knew at that moment if I ever got the chance to get into some kind of flying ship and help support others in this world, I would never pass up the chance. Our military pilots in this country (fixed- wing or rotors) are some of the, if not the most, top-notch pilots in this entire world and we are lucky to have them.
RP: How did you get your start in the helicopter industry?
The way I got started in the helicopter industry was by way of chance. I was lucky enough to receive benefits after separating from the military through the Post 9-11 GI Bill. They paid 100% of my airplane and helicopter flight school. I went to a flight school at Prescott, Arizona; that was a high-altitude training center where I was lucky enough to come across an absolute trailblazer in this industry, John Stonecipher, who was the owner of the school that took a chance on me as a pilot and led me to
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the opportunities that got me to where I am today. I would highly recommend Guidance Aviation’s flight school for anyone trying to get into the helicopter industry.
RP: When and how did you choose the helicopter industry? Or did it choose you?
I feel like the helicopter industry chose me; I didn’t choose it. Coming directly from the Marine Corps into flight school, I was still in need of the brotherhood and thrill.
I went to airplane
flight school at the same time as I was working through all my helicopter certificates and when I got done with both, It was time to decide my path. Without too much detail, if you are someone who has ever had the pleasure of taking flight in a helicopter, the overwhelming pull to the rotor world was a force that I couldn’t escape. It became a part of me and I will be forever thankful for that time of my life.
RP: If you were not in the helicopter industry, what else would you see yourself doing?
This is a good question. I have thought about it many times. I can honestly say,
I would probably be living in some no-
name town, driving an old truck that constantly needed work and working some dead-end job spending every extra dollar I had on flight hours to get to exactly where I am today. After the experience I had in the military, there was no stopping me. I was willing to do anything and everything possible to live the dream I am living today. I didn’t come from a place where opportunities were in abundance. So, it was up to me and only me to make my dreams come true. I am beyond grateful I never had to find out the hard way what I would be doing if I wasn’t in this amazing industry.
RP: What do you enjoy doing on your days off? Days off?? Can you expand on what you mean by this question?
Meet a otor
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