William Matheuszik

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William Matheuszik has been living his passion as a pilot in what he describes as a daily adventure. For more than 30 years he has gained the experience of flying nearly every design of aircraft, commercial, private, and cargo planes.

William was born in Montreal, Canada. He wanted to further his education after completing high school, He continued his education at John Abbott College. However, he determined that he did not want to be an academic. What became very clear to William was, as it was for his father before him, he had a passion to become a pilot.

At this point, William Matheuszik begin his flight training in Montreal. He completed his training in Kingston, Ontario. He landed his first job with Air Charters in Montreal. After a year he joined Voyageur Airways. He has also flown for Sky Freight Express, Tal-Air, Pem-Air, Air Ontario, Air Canada, and Cargo jet.

William Matheuszik continues to enjoy his passion for flying. He is looking toward new horizons in a brand-new adventure as he weighs his options for the future.

In his free time, William is an avid motorcyclist. Alternatively, he enjoys cycling, camping, and all winter sports including skiing and snowboarding.

Tell us a bit about what you do.

I am a pilot. I started out flying small aircraft. They were six-seater propeller planes flying passengers, charters, and cargo. It was with a company that had a contract with the banks. I flew during a time when people were still writing checks. We were returning checks back to the cities that they came from in Quebec and Ontario. Then I moved to the second company which took me to Ontario. That was for scheduled passengers, charter passengers, cargo and Air Ambulance. I flew out of the toronto area until I moved to Pembroke, which was charter and passengers. After that I was hired to fly for a larger company and started flying Jets. Those flights were passenger, International, and domestic services as well as charters. With Air Canada, I flew scheduled passengers and charters. Air Canada had a contract with the National Hockey League at this time which gave me the opportunity to fly some of the NHL sports teams. The cargo company I was most recently working with was primarily Amazon products cargo. The planes were large aircraft that were converted B767 and B757 passenger airplanes. One aircraft was a converted 200+ seats the other used to be a 180-passenger plane. They were very large. I flew just about anything. I flew three Dressage horses from Toronto to Calgary at one time. It was very interesting having horses onboard. I like the adventure of what I do.


What gave you the idea for you to become a pilot? How did it start?

What gave me the idea to become a pilot was my father. I am actually a second-generation pilot. My father was a pilot first in the air force then he became a commercial pilot. We had the opportunity at one of the companies that I flew with to fly together. He was the captain and I was his co-pilot. We enjoyed doing that flight together. There has been aviation in our background as well. On my mother’s side of the family, she had an uncle who flew in the second world war. There has been aviation in our history. I was inspired by them and I enjoy the adventure of what I do.


What’s your favorite thing about your chosen profession?

What I like the most about my profession is that I get to play with a really big toy! What I do feels like a hobby and I get to earn a living while doing it. Most people put in their time then they go to work then they go home. I actually enjoy going to work. Every day is a different experience. The weather might be different. I could be flying during the day, night, raining snowing, depending on where you are. Aviation is very much like that. You can go between the same two points a hundred times and there will be a hundred different experiences.


What keys to being productive can you share with us?

When you have a goal, you plan your strategy to get to the goal in the most efficient way possible. You lay-out the steps that you need to take, including your timelines, especially if you have time constraints. You choose the path that will get you to your goal as quickly and professionally as possible.

Tell us one long-term goal in your career.

In the aviation industry, pilots are subject to medical exams every six months. Therefore, my biggest career goal is to stay as healthy as possible and stay a pilot as long as possible. My goal is to get to my sixty-fifth birthday and to retire as a lifelong pilot. It would not be my preference to be forced to retire for medical reasons.

What’s the most valuable lesson you’ve learned through the course of your career?

The most valuable lesson that I have learned in my career is to be flexible and open-minded. You never know who will have a better solution to a problem and you need to be open to other options. It is something that I always tell co-pilots when we are flying together. There is nothing that frustrates me more than if they see me doing something that they know can be done better, and they say nothing about it. I am very open-minded in that sense and flexible enough to know that you might be going from A to B but you may have to go to C. It could be with mechanical problems or weather problems or even passenger illness onboard. You just never know if you’re going to get to your original destination. Flexibility is the key to everything.


What advice would you give to others aspiring to succeed as a pilot?

I would advise anyone aspiring to be a pilot not to become a pilot because of what you see in movies or read in books. Don’t let the Hollywood version of flying be your compass. I would tell them to get into flying because it is your true passion. If it is not a passion you will have a tough time succeeding, being a pilot is a grind. There is a lot of hard work in the beginning. It is low-pay and long hours. There are many unpleasant environments. I have had to do everything from loading cargo onto the aircraft then flying it to its destination and having to unload it. I’ve had to load people onboard in stretchers. It is not the glamorous show-up at the airport in your stretch-limo where you have everyone staring at you saying wow, I want to be like that. It is a job that requires a true passion. If you think you’re going to get rich at it, it will just grind you down.


What are your favorite things to do outside of work?

My overwhelming out-side-of-work passion is motorcycle riding. To a lesser degree, I enjoy cycling, camping and winter sports such as skiing and snowboarding.

Name a few influential books you’ve read and/or websites you keep up with that you’d recommend to readers.

I read as a form of entertainment. I am not really a textbook reader. Right now, I am reading a series called The Expanse by James S. A. Corey. It is a seven-book science fiction series. My reading is more of an escape rather than a search for knowledge. When I have an interest in learning something I go online and read different perspectives on my topic of interest. I prefer reading a variety of opinions on a topic to determine my own opinion.

For more information, please visit williammatheuszik.com/

 

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