William Doe graduating from the Western Michigan University College of Aviation in 2015
Because as a child growing up, Will Doe did more than his share of traveling, it seems logical that place-to-place activity would shape the career he would choose.
Doe, a 2015 graduate of the Western Michigan University College of Aviation, was born in Liberia and spent his first 10 years in the southwest African nation located at the top of the continent's ice-cream-cone-like bulge along the Atlantic Ocean.
By the time his age hit double "ones," he was living within visibility of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the busiest terminal in the world and the first on the planet to crest more than 100 million passengers in a calendar year.
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"My interest in aviation simply came from another passion of mine -- traveling," he says. "I wanted a job that would allow me to work and fulfill this at the same time. I figured becoming a pilot equated to traveling and seeing the rest of the world. Little did I know that the aviation industry would become another personal passion."
Even before his 2009 graduation from Perry High School in his adopted home state of Georgia, Doe was targeted for WMU's aviation program largely because of the advice of a Delta Airlines pilot who had become a mentor. One can't beat word-of-mouth advertising.
Doe with fellow WMU Alumni Abby (Raymond) Ragsdale, Scott Warner, and Abby (Anderson) Pennington
The frame needed to hang his Western degree in aviation management and operations was not yet posted on the wall when Doe landed his first post-graduation position with Kalitta Air, a cargo service based in Ypsilanti in the southeast portion of Michigan.
Initially, he was an operations assistant serving as a liaison between the pilots and the company when it came to scheduling, dispatching, customer communications and related key duties. Doe updated flight manuals as well. He was then shifted to the "fun job" of crew scheduling that involved monitoring and making certain all members of the flight team complied with FAA regulations and collective-bargaining agreements. "I essentially put the pilots in their seats," he says, "and determined who went where and when."
Doe current employment environment: the FedEx Crew Resource Scheduling department
All of this prepared Doe for FedEx Express, his "dream" airline based in Memphis, Tenn., in 2018. That required a move to the South with his wife, Ariel, and son, Noah. There he faced similar duties as with Kalitta, but with a "much bigger operation, way more crew members, and a larger fleet of aircraft. At Kalitta," he says, "I knew most of the crew. Not so at FedEx.
"One of the benefits of working for Kalitta," he says, "is you are allowed to 'jumpseat' on their aircraft. I got the chance to ride in the cockpit of a Boeing 747-400 from Cincinnati (Ohio) to Brussels. That's a major run for Kalitta," sending stuff to the Belgian capital almost daily.
There for a week before "jumpseating" back to the States, Doe was able to visit a cousin he had not seen in 15 years since leaving Liberia. "That's the beauty of aviation," he says, "being able to connect with friends and family while doing your job."
Doe, wife Ariel, and son, Noah on their first ever trip and his first trip back to Africa after leaving in 2001
Doe is "forever grateful" to the professors, flight instructors and staff he encountered during his stay in Battle Creek and Kalamazoo. While there are so many to credit, he says, Doe has special feelings for Tony Dennis (now director of graduate student recruitment and outreach) and RoseElla Lyke when they were part of the College of Aviation staff, and Tom Thinnes, still the "dude" director of recruitment and outreach. While Thinnes truly wanted him on his team of Aviation Ambassadors, Doe had his sights on other ways to get involved during his time at WMU. However, Thinnes did get him for a couple of special events, when Doe represented the College of Aviation during conventions and fly-ins.
While a member of the Western aviation family, Doe affiliated with the Multicultural Association of Aviation Professionals (MAAP) because of "what it stood for and because the chapter was started by some of my WMU mentors." In addition to promoting diversity in the industry, MAAP (which has evolved to the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals (OBAP) – WMU Chapter) provided great networking platforms, opportunities to tour airports and control towers to sample the practical aspects of his chosen career, and connections to OBAP and the power of the WMU chapter's interaction possibilities.
Doe and members of MAAP (now known as OBAP-WMU) doing a tour of Detroit Metro in August 2011
Through all of this, Doe pooled logs full of memories, such as his first solo in a Cirrus SR20. "There is no other feeling like sitting in the cockpit by yourself for the first time," he says. Yet, even with that towering sensation, he chose to switch his major from aviation flight science.
The change did not prevent him from representing Western at the annual EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wis., the world's greatest celebration of aviation. "That's where I reinforced my belief in the power of networking, recruitment, sales and helping people pursue aviation as a career." Doe experienced the loving, breathing results of that process when he borrowed Thinnes' car to show a potential student and his family (he had met in Oshkosh) the WMU campus and aviation facilities. Although the student opted to pursue aviation at an alternative program, Doe made the decision incredibly difficult by showing first-hand the WMU difference.
Doe is more than satisfied with his current duties at FedEx. Yet off in the wild blue yonder of his mind is a vision of starting his own consulting firm. "I would love to help others starting their aviation journeys figure out the right path to take," he says. "There are careers in aviation other than being a pilot or flight attendant. I believe there are many different paths to take.
Family and Friends day at FedEx in 2019
"FedEx is easily one of the best companies to work for," he says, "and I plan on being there for a long time. My favorite part of the job is speaking with and interacting with crews on a daily basis. Learning about their trips and experiences always make me smile."
Now that's a testament for a great job.