My name is Eric Carlson, I am 38, a husband and a father of 4 and a volunteer Fire Fighter.  I grew up always working for what I have and appreciating the value of everything. I have a career background in fire and life safety.  I have been selling, designing and installing fire sprinkler systems and fire suppression systems for most of my adult life. This part of my life has ended and I find myself working seasonal jobs (currently, seasonally unemployed) here on the coast of Maine. My wife, Volante, and I have a plan for a better way to support our family and our community while doing something that I love. Our goal is to start a small family owned and operated Seaplane tour and charter business to operate year round here on the coast of Maine

The required licensing needed for this is a commercial, multi-engine sea plane rating, which goes far and above the normal private license. The average cost for this amount of licensing is just a little over $45,000. Which is why many people do not do this. 100% of the funding will be going to pilot training for myself at 1 of 2 possible flight training schools in the area. This is step one of making this business a reality.

Eventually we would like to also start a non-profit to make learning to fly available for local kids (and adults) who would otherwise never be able to afford it as another career choice other than lobster fishing. This will be the way our business will be giving back to the community as well. We have chosen this, as we learned that there is little to no career opportunity in Maine with a commercial license. There is not enough small aircraft business currently in Maine. This would start to change that. This license is not a selfish want, but the chance at an opportunity for a life time career and to open doors for others too.