Charter airline pilot becomes delivery rider as alternative source of income during lockdown

The aviation industry is greatly affected by the covid-19 pandemic. The drop in air travel demand brought by lockdowns and travel restrictions have forced airlines to suspend flight operations, affecting many of its crew, including pilots. Much of their income too was greatly affected as these airlines had to resort to a "no work no pay" scheme in order to cut costs.

A pilot of a charter airline company found himself in such a situation. This is Glenndaile Samonte, a first officer pilot of Asian Aerospace Corp. His pilot career began in 2013 and finished with a Commercial Pilot License with instrument rating in 2016.

"As a Genav pilot, most of my work are charter flights and aerial survey across our country which I also enjoyed personally because I was able to discover beautiful places and different cultures of our natives," shared Glenn.

The coronavirus pandemic then took its toll in the world, forcing airlines to suspend operations as governments and states had to impose travel bans and lockdowns. "Aviation industry was intensely affected of the pandemic. That made our company decided to have a skeletal work force and I was one of their on-call pilots."

For Glenn, he had to make ends meet. Getting consumed by the situation did not stop him of finding ways to augment the loss of income. "I admit, I was sad about it. But I am blessed to have a supportive family and friends who encourage me to live my life the other way around," shared Glenn.

Luckily, opportunity opened itself when one of the owners of Mesa UP Town Katipunan, who happens to be Glenn's relative, informed him that they were in need of a delivery rider. Glenn did not think twice of accepting the opportunity.

"I accepted the job because it would help me in my daily expenses and at the same time I enjoyed passing time productively."

In a time like this, one has to be street smart in order to survive. No inhibitions, no "arte arte". In Filipino terms "diskarte ang kelangan sa buhay, hindi arte."

Glenn has this to share to his fellow aviators:

"Our profession might be holding short right now due to pandemic, but we must never forget that we need to keep ourselves moving- not maybe flying high but living the other way we can until we are cleared for take off again. Be the bigger man."

Our snappy salute goes out to this young pilot! Indeed, what others may say about you does not matter, for as long as what you are doing is noble, it helps others, and it provides for your family, do it with pride and be proud of it.

At the end of the day, Glenn found a way to push forward. From delivering passengers and cargo to delivering food to hungry individuals, this young man is indeed an inspiration for us to always make progress and to not to be taken down by any challenge.

"I would like to express my earnest appreciation to my tito Wilfredo Canua Jr and Dr. Lysander Ragodon; owners of Mesa UP Town Katipunan branch for trusting me on this job. It is a pleasure at this point to express my gratitude wholeheartedly to my family; Where would I be without them? I am ever indebted to them always. And lastly, I’am extremely thankful to God for loving me unconditionally," shares Glenn.