E356: From SWAT to Corporate Jet Pilot - How Josh Changed Careers and Built a Life in Aviation

E356: From SWAT to Corporate Jet Pilot - How Josh Changed Careers and Built a Life in Aviation

April 14, 2026 · 1h 13m · Season 1 · Episode 356

About this episode

Josh Schirard shares his journey from a law enforcement career to becoming a corporate jet pilot and discusses the mindset required in aviation.

NEW SPONSOR ALERT!! Truly honored to have Avemco as new sponsor for the podcast. save 5% on your aircraft insurance by with Avemco. Call (888) 635-4297 or visit www.avemco.com/4297-owner - www.avemco.com/4297-nonowner ! What does it take to walk away from a two-decade law enforcement career — including 13 years on SWAT — and start over as a pilot? Josh Schirard did exactly that, and in this episode he breaks down every step of the journey. Josh is now a corporate pilot flying Hawker 800s and Lear 60s, a professional skydiver with the REMAX Skydive team, and the author of the upcoming book Burn Your Boats . He's also one of the most thoughtful guests we've had on the show when it comes to the mindset side of aviation. In this episode we talk about: How skydiving pulled him back into aviation after years away His ATP flight training experience — the good, the hard, and what he'd do differently How SWAT-level decision-making and crew resource management overlap more than you'd think Building flight time as a jump pilot and why he skipped the CFI route How he landed his first corporate gig through pure networking Whether the airlines are in his future — and why he keeps his options…

People in this episode

Host: Justin Siems

Guest: Josh Schirard

Topics covered

Keywords

Sponsors

Avemco

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Burn Your Boats

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