Will Locante: Professional Baseball Player Turned Pilot

Avination, welcome to episode #50 of the Pilot to Pilot podcast. Today, I am interviewing from Arizona Diamondback pitcher Will Locante. In this episode, Will and I talk about..

• Why he retired from a career in baseball to become a pilot.
• When Will knew he wanted to be a pilot.
• Wills uncle is a 787 sim instructor for American.
• Why Will wanted to capitalize on his sports career as long as possible.
• When I knew I wasn’t going to go pro in football.
• How I used athletics to put myself in the best position possible to become a pilot.
• How Will went to Tennessee even though he hates Tennessee and loves the Auburn Tigers

• How Will doesn’t miss Professional baseball one bit.
• Will was always under the impression aviation was a military career.
• Will’s neighbor who is a captain at SouthWest helped sparked the interest in aviation again.
• How will was always annoyed with my old freight company flying into Smyrna late at night.
• How Will didn’t go to ATP because he thought he could get his training done quicker.
• How Will decided on a Flight School.
• Why will as a flight instructors dream.
• Will had around 40 hours when he got his Private Pilot license.
• Will talks about fun times at John Toon aka the wild west.
• Was will more nervous for check rides or games.
• Will talks about how he did his CFII check ride with a DPE and the FAA.
• The most nervous will has ever been for a check ride.
• Don’t let a failed check ride keep you from thinking you can get your dream job.
• Use a failed check ride as a learning experience.
• How Will became the instructor he is today.
• How Will has had to tell students that they should find another instructor.
• How Will determines if a student is ready to be signed off.
• What was Will’s wife’s initial reaction about him retiring from Baseball to become a pilot.
• Why Will didn’t want to be an instructor.
• We talk about the 1500 hour rule.
• I talk about my experience getting my first type rating.

Avination, I hope you enjoyed today's podcast. Please leave us a review on iTunes and be sure to check out our Patreon page!

Happy Flying,

Justin