Steve Cullen may be the only pilot ever refused a job because he had too much experience. No fewer than three major airlines rejected his application because, "Nobody had ever seen a 23 year-old kid with 6,000 hours[if flight time]," said Cullen. "Most of them thought I was lying." Steve, however, was legitimate.
He caught flight fever at the age of 10; and soloed on his 16th birthday. A year later, having added 300 hours and a multi-engine rating to his private pilot's certificate, Cullen was busy washing a Cessna 310 on the family's sales lot in Corona, California when a stranger walked up and asked for a ride in the plane.
After getting clearance from his uncle, Steve gladly obliged the man. The flight went so well that later that afternoon the gentleman, who was not a pilot, returned and bought the twin-engine Cessna. He also asked Cullen to be his personal pilot. From that point on, Steve spent nearly as much time in cockpits as he did in school.
Soon after turning 18, with a commercial license and a new instrument rating, Cullen took a job with an air taxi company in Magenta, Arizona. "I flew all around Arizona and New Mexico, taking Indians from every corner of the reservation to hospitals in Tuba City, or Framington."
Two years later, Steve decided to move north. From Naknek, Alaska, he taxied passengers and cargo around the land of the Midnight Sun in a Piper Seneca and a Cherokee Six. Steve mastered the challenging weather and mountain flying demanded in the far north. He flew a daunting schedule, amassing as many as 1400 hours a year; a total no longer no longer permitted by the Federal Aviation Administration.
"After three years in Alaska, I went back to Corona and got my ATP and FE Turbojet [ratings]," Cullen said. That is when he ran into trouble convincing potential employers that he actually did have 6,000 hours of flight time.
Slightly discouraged, Steve returned to Alaska, where he landed a job with a small air charter outfit. Over the next eight years, he logged lots of time, piloting eight different aircraft. Then, with 14,500 hours in his log book, Steve "...decided to try the airline thing again."
This time, however, Cullen had no trouble getting a job. "I was hired as a First Officer with Mark Air, and flew the 737-200 and 400."
Twelve years ago, Steve joined Atlas Air, a worldwide cargo hauler. A year later, he was advanced to Captain, flying the 747-200. Currently, he commands the model 400. "It is not uncommon for me to circle the globe, sometimes twice a month," Cullen said. "We go to almost every major city on earth, and quite a few of the smaller ones. We also fly for the Air Force, hauling supplies and equipment to Iraq and Afghanistan."
When Cullen, now with nearly 25,000 hours, is not piloting a 747 to such exotic locales as Amsterdam, Dubai, and Nairobi, he enjoys flying his 1967 Mooney M20F. "I only get to fly the Mooney about 100 hours a year, usually for $100 hamburgers, the occasional air show, or family trips," he said.
Now a 49 year-old father of four and grandfather of three, Cullen still loves the simple magic of flight. "I talked my dad into paying for glider lessons when I was 14," he said. "And, since then, it seems I've spent every waking moment at an airport."
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