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