Damianos Papadopoulos

Becoming a professional pilot was a lifelong dream for me.
A few words about me:

My name is Damianos Papadopoulos and I am from Athens, Greece. I hold FAA, Transport Canada, national Greek and Russian ATP licenses .

At this period of my life I am a First Officer on the Boeing 747-400 ERF and soon will be typed on the new Boeing 747-8 F in the largest cargo company in Russia and 5 th in the world. Before that I have been flying the legendary Boeing 737-300/400/500 CL as well as the workhorse of all times Boeing 737-700/800 NG all over Europe, Asia, middle East, Africa.

But before I started flying jets , I had one of the greatest adventures and experiences in my life …… being a flight instructor at Harv’s Air. When I first came to Harv’s Air , I already possessed a FAA commercial pilot license with ME IFR ratings , but was rusty as hell because had a big flying gap of almost 3 years, due to late Mr.Bin Laden and the downfall on the aviation industry in general.

It was very hard to find an aviation job, but had to pay the loan, so did other jobs to survive.
The guys at Harv’s Air not only gave me a chance job wise , but also provided a huge platform for me experience wise. First I became a ground instructor there,  helping students academically , then I had the privilege to do my instructor rating there.

Being an instructor was challenging for me, but in my opinion gave me the experience and the confidence to fly any plane. When you instruct, your multi tasking qualities are getting enhanced : You are flying the plane, you are maintaining situational awareness , you are teaching the student to fly and you are becoming more and more experienced in not repeating the same mistakes your students do. Plus if you want to fly at Harv’s Air you will always will (just need to have good reputation among students ), I actually flew more hours in winter than in summer , it is cold but it’s screaming VFR!!!

If Harv or Adam sees that you are serious about your job and you have a pretty good flying record, they will let you fly and let you have as much students as you can handle!!! – the hour building is extremely fast!!!

It is a really great job experience wise , you become an expert in judging peoples character and personality , which will definitely help you in your future multi pilot jobs !!!
When you come to the airlines for the interview and say that you have flight instruction experience , they look at you with respect and you have more chances of being hired!!!

The airplane is an airplane , all planes fly the same way. The Boeing 747-400 flies just like a Cessna 172 if you think about it, just has more engines and more systems. Being an instructor at Harv’s really boosted up my flying abilities and was a mile stone in my aviation career. In my opinion it is a must for every pilot to have instructional experience, it definitely makes you a better pilot.

A lot of thanks to Harv, Adam,Bettie, Sandra, Aaron.
I am recommending Harv’s Air for training to all of you guys , who really want to fly!!!

With respect Damianos