About this episode

Nick Fialka shares his unconventional journey to becoming a pilot and offers insights into the airline interview process.

Not every pilot's journey starts with dreams of flight—some begin with a challenge and a bottle of Eagle Rare bourbon. In this episode, we sit down with Nick Fialka, captain at a major airline, host of the Ready for Pushback podcast, and interview coach at Spitfire Elite. Nick's path to the cockpit is anything but conventional. From attending The Citadel (not exactly known for churning out pilots) to flying helicopters in the Navy, then leaving it all to build a successful RV park in Florida—Nick thought the airlines weren't in his future. That changed when a retired Delta captain rolled into his RV park with a $700,000 rig and convinced him over whiskey that he belonged at 35,000 feet. We dive deep into what it really takes to land a job at a major airline in today's market. Nick pulls back the curtain on the interview process, sharing the mistakes that sink applications before they're even read, the logbook disasters that cost pilots their dream jobs, and why spending $600 on interview prep for a $22 million career is the easiest decision you'll ever make. We also tackle the reality of aviation's boom-and-bust cycles, what the 2026 hiring landscape looks like, and why even the…

People in this episode

Host: Justin Siems

Guest: Nick Fialka

Topics covered

• aviation career paths
• interview preparation
• major airline hiring
• pilot interview secrets
• aviation industry trends

Keywords

• pilot career
• interview tips
• aviation interviews
• airline hiring
• pilot training

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Ready for Pushback, Spitfire Elite, Delta

Products: Eagle Rare bourbon

Places: Florida, The Citadel

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