By Steve Sears

Pequannock High School offers its students an Aviation Academy, where those who aspire to a career as a pilot can learn more about the field. And what better person to speak to the students than a former New Jersey Air National Guard and American Airlines Captain.

Steve O’Neill, a 1976 graduate of Pequannock High School, retired this year from American Airlines, for whom he worked as a pilot for 31 years. “It’s a pretty rare thing,” O’Neill says of the Aviation Academy. “And it’s kind of a cool thing. It’s not just for Pequannock, but I think the surrounding schools can send kids in there, too.”

O’Neill is 65, and when he was growing up his dad had interests in flying, but he never got his pilot’s license. His son would do different. “My first passenger flight was when I was a sophomore in college. The first time I ever flew was down over Orlando. The whole flying thing to me was always fascinating,” O’Neill says.

Initially, O’Neill was interested in working for a commercial recreation company like Disney, but jobs weren’t available. Instead, he took a job as an Account Executive for Automatic Data Processing in Manhattan. “I had a good time there, but I always thought, ‘There’s got to be something else.” In his office, he sat next to a co-worker whose father was a retired United States Air Force Colonel. O’Neill spoke with the retired Colonel, who told him, “Don’t just look at the Air Force, look at the Air National Guard, because they normally select one or two civilian applicants and send them through Air Force training.” This way, selected applicants knew what they would be flying and where they would be based, which for O’Neill was McGuire Air Force Base in Fort Dix.

O’Neill started as a backseater, better known as a “Wizzo” or WSO (Weapons System Operator), and headed to navigation school in Sacramento, California. When he returned to McGuire Air Force Base after his training, he applied for a front seat pilot slot, and after a year and a half he got it. “The back seat is great – there’s actually a stick back there, so you can do a little bit of flying and stuff like that – but going to the front and becoming the aircraft commander was a pinnacle moment in my career. So, that was a big, big change. I was really excited about doing that, and was fortunate enough to do that,” O’Neill says. After a year of pilot training in Arizona, and after six months follow up training, he returned to the Garden State and got a job with American Airlines, which he did simultaneously with the Air National Guard. O’Neill, who flew both the F-4 Phantom II and a KC-135 Stratotanker, was with the Air National Guard for almost 25 years, attaining the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. “That was a great career, too,” he says.

O’Neill now is interested in teaching the next generation of pilots. He has taken part in “Career Day” at Pequannock High School as well as Morris Catholic High School in Denville, and during his National Guard days would visit schools to talk to students. He always enjoyed it, and still does. “I like to give kids some ideas. That’s why I think ‘Career Day’ is so important. I really think that the more professionals we can get into these high schools, the better choices the students can make about their future career paths.”

Prior to a recent visit with the Aviation Academy students, O’Neill spoke with Pequannock High School Technology and STEM teacher, Edward Kopp, about topics of discussion. One of Kopp’s fellow teachers expressed an interest in military careers for their students. “I basically told them how to go about getting into a military aviation career, different paths with the Air Force Academy, ROTC (Officer Training School), or the Air National Guard,” O’Neill says. “And then I broke down what you do in that year of pilot training, academic-wise and flying-wise, that sort of thing.”

O’Neill, who is currently a realtor and a professional drone pilot, has stayed grounded for now. He recently got his FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) Part 107 drone license, and has started a company called High Flight Photography Services, LLC. The new career also lends itself to his high school talks, as the high school Aviation Academy is split into fixed-wing aircraft and drone curriculums. O’Neill says, “I like the high school age group kids, because they just have so much potential. I always tell the kids, ‘You have the potential and the option to do whatever you want.’ That’s why we’ve got to give them more ideas on what their options are.”