6-year-old wants to be a pilot after meeting UPS captain

UPS Captain Mark Jerman and Tyler Blades, 6, of Wasilla, met while seated next to each other during a red-eye flight early August.

Despite having just flown a cargo aircraft 10 hours from Hong Kong to Anchorage, Jerman answered all of Tyler's questions about flying and airplanes. Cheryl Blades, Tyler's mother, contacted UPS to thank Jerman for his time.

"I reached out to UPS, and I said, 'Hey, I just want you to know this guy went above and beyond,' " Cheryl Blades said.

"I was pretty surprised. It was very kind of her to do something like that," Jerman said.

Tyler and his family were then invited to tour a UPS 747 freighter with Jerman on Friday in Anchorage, where Tyler was presented with his very own captain's hat.

Cheryl Blades said Tyler had wanted to be a firefighter, or an EMT, or a police officer — "and now he wants to fly airplanes."

"It was my privilege (to show Tyler around)," Jerman said. "I hope I sparked some interest that'll stay with him, and you never know what can come of that."

[kingt.hawkings]

That's so cool, I got my start from riding my bike to the terminal area at lax and following the cargo guys through the underground tunnels and ended up at the satellites and to meet my flight instructor from Western airlines, and we towed a/c to the hanger! Obviously well before 9/11 ! I would also hop on the bus that took the pilots an stewardess' from terminal to terminal for free all day long, you can just imagine a kid at 10 doing these things nobody asked any questions as to why I was there! The bus driver ended up recognizing me! So we were cool!
My love is of flying, but I became an aircraft avionics technician instead! I worked as a flight test engineer on the MD-87, the, MD-11, and the, C-17 so you can see that a
Young man can be swayed by aircraft and the persons to keep them safely flying...I've been doing this for over 35 years now and still love it!
I have a pilots licence and A&P, aircraft carrier CV-64 U. S Navy, and love my work, I've been studying my field for over 35 years now and still love aircraft!
Because of BOB HOOVER when
I saw him perform at the Oxnard pt. Mugu airshow when I was ten!