From Searcy To The Skies
- searcylivingads
- Jun 8
- 7 min read
Three Pilots' Flight Plans
By Jennifer Webb
Scott and Philip Corder grew up with one eye on the sky.
Their dad flew for Delta Airlines and met their mother, who was a flight attendant. They occasionally got to miss school for a mid-week trip and traveled mostly in the off-season. Their dad was gone a lot, but their parents made it work.
Instead of car racetracks, they had an airport set they played with, docking planes, loading pretend passengers, and going on adventures as big as their imaginations. As they grew up, nothing else seemed interesting to them. They both started flying when they were 15, took their first solo flights on their 16th birthdays, and earned their private pilot’s licenses soon after turning 17. They were both high school seniors who could legally get behind the wheels of cars and airplanes.
The brothers both felt the call of the sky but pursued it in different ways. Scott went to Kansas City after graduating from Henderson State University and started working a traditional career at AT&T, Monday through Friday. But when a few of his buddies got together and asked if he wanted to go skydiving, he knew he couldn’t miss the opportunity to get his feet off the ground. He spent a lot of time talking to the employees and the owner. He walked away with a weekend piloting job taking skydivers up to jump.
Scott lived for the weekends, taking the small plane up, talking to the clients, and usually squeezing in a jump for himself on the last flight of the day when someone else was piloting the plane.
After 20 years working for AT&T and flying skydivers around, Scott started to feel burnt out and in need of a change. His brother, Philip, had been talking to him about flying for an airline. He took the leap and moved back to Searcy.
He had enough hours to apply to an airline, so he started talking to several of them. He found an airline that offered him a job the next day. Ten days later, he found himself in ground school in Houston and started flying commercial jets. He logged 2600 hours in three years at the airline, with 1000 of those hours as captain, before transitioning to his current job flying a business jet for a large corporation. He is often on call, but he gets more time at home.
Philip stayed a bit closer to home, but not necessarily closer to the ground. While he was still in college at Henderson State, he flew a plane towing banners at Oaklawn and various festivals and events in Hot Springs and Little Rock. He also worked for Lonestar Airlines, which flew out of Hot Springs, loading baggage, doing ground work, prepping the planes, and checking people in. He saw nearly every aspect of the commercial aviation industry, learning firsthand how many different moving parts come together for a successful flight.
After he graduated, Philip did contract flying for a few years, then flew with Lonestar Airlines, out of Fort Worth, TX, then for Aspen Mountain Air before settling at Southwest Airlines in 1999. He made captain in 2005 and chose to be based out of Denver. He lives in Searcy but commutes into an airport and catches either a company flight or rides in a “jump seat” which is available for pilots and flight crew. A jump seat is an unoccupied seat on a commercial flight. Their typical trips are three days on-four days off or four days on-three days off. For Philip, it’s an incredibly fun job, and he feels privileged to do something that he’s always wanted to do.
During his career, Philip has been able to fly with his dad professionally a few times and met lots of interesting people, along with a few celebrities. He always puts safety first but also loves meeting new people and talking to first-time flyers. His son, currently a senior at Searcy High School, is now a licensed drone pilot and does work for real estate agents around the Central AR area. His son’s interest sparked his own, and he also works as a drone pilot and aviation consultant for a local security firm.
“I love seeing Searcy people on my flight, and my job has been such a privilege. I’m so grateful to God, my friends, and family for all the support.”
- Captain Philip Corder, Searcy Resident and Pilot for Southwest Airlines
David Escue, another local pilot who lives in Searcy, did not start out thinking he would be a pilot at all.
His parents were in education, and he wanted follow in their footsteps and be a football coach. Between his sophomore and junior year of college at Harding, he got a call from a friend in Memphis who had his private pilot’s license. His friend asked if he wanted to come for the weekend and spend some time flying with him.
David got to handle the controls a bit and after flying with his friend for a few hours, came home and told his Dad that he no longer wanted to pursue an education degree. He had been bitten by the flying bug!
His dad told him, “I’ll help you get your private pilot’s license, but after that, you’re on your own.” He went to Olive Branch, MS that summer and came home with his private pilot’s license. He returned to Harding, played football for the Bisons, and got the rest of his ratings through Searcy Aviation in the following years.
His first piloting job was as a co-pilot for Harding in a 690B Turbo Commander with the university’s chief pilot, David Ridings from Searcy. He also got his CFI rating which allowed him to become a flight instructor. In 1993, he got a job flying for Promus Companies in Memphis, which was a hotel management franchise. They operated Hawkers and Citations. Promus was bought out by Hilton, and the Promus flight department was closed down. He flew for another company that managed a Hawker 800 for AutoZone for a year but was very much looking for his long-term career.
That’s how he found FedEx. They started hiring again in May, 2000, and David applied. He started as a flight engineer on a 727, monitoring the systems on the flights in the seat behind the pilot and copilot. Most of their flights were overnight, but their schedule made it easier to work around his family, especially since they lived in Memphis at the time.
He moved to the first officer’s seat on the Airbus 300 after 13 months. At that time FedEx had a contract with the U.S. Postal Service. Many days, David would depart Memphis at 4 a.m., fly to a destination with FedEx freight, load back up with the mail, and fly back to Memphis the same morning to be off the rest of the day. It was early mornings, but the schedule allowed him to be there for most of his kids’ sports events. He even got to do some volunteer coaching when his kids were in elementary and junior high.
“Flying for an airline is different, as far as being able to work the schedule around your family. When you fly for a corporation, you’re on call a lot. Both make it hard to schedule around family time until you get some seniority. Going to work for FedEx made it easier to schedule family things.”
- Captain David Escue, Searcy Resident and Pilot
He was able to build some seniority fairly quickly. His seniority affects seat positions, as well as how they bid for schedules. The more seniority he has, the better chance he has of getting a schedule he likes. They bid on schedules on a monthly basis, though pilots can also trade off flights with other pilots.
He made his present position as captain on the A300 in 2015. After 26 years with FedEx, he is now #42 out of 242 in seniority in the captain’s seat of the Airbus. Now that he has moved to Searcy and commutes to Memphis, he usually bids on schedules that are 1 week on, 1 week off.
He enjoys flying freight and not having to go through the hustle and bustle of the terminals every day. It’s also been a very steady industry. Many of his current runs are at night, and the flights are often close together with time for a nap in between.
It’s been a very interesting career, and though one of his sons has stayed in Searcy as the Director of Admissions at Harding, his other son lives in Fayetteville and is a flight instructor at the Springdale airport. It was a career that David never saw coming.
All three Searcy Pilots got either their start or additional ratings at Searcy Aviation at the Searcy Airport. (Searcy Aviation is no longer in business, but there are several other flight instruction businesses currently housed there.)
One of Philip Corder’s favorite things that he did for 14 years was an Adopt a Pilot Day. It was a career day event where he got to talk to kids about flying and his job as a pilot. His advice is to find what you’re good at and what you like to do. Where those two things meet is a good starting point for a career.
“Enjoy your life! People chase the dollar or are so scared of success that they fail. You can’t always have everything perfectly planned. You’ve got to put yourself out there. It’s difficult when you’re young, but sometimes you have to jump off a cliff and build your wings on the way down.”
- Captain Philip Corder, Searcy Resident and Pilot
If you are interested in becoming a pilot, book a discovery flight at any local airport or flight school.
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