Name / Hometown / Occupation

Joe Diebolder / Munich/Germany / Pilot on the Boeing 747

Topic of your Talk

How a pilot’s checklist will improve your life?

What can we expect from the talk?

I want my audience to understand how checklists in a modern airline cockpit are applied by pilots and how you can set up your own checklists for your everyday life to become a better version of yourself.

Why do you want to be a TEDx Speaker?

My love for aviation and how being a pilot has impacted my life for the better is worth sharing with the creative, inspiring and motivating minds of a TEDx audience.

Do you have an important message to spread or a motivational life motto?

Self-help books and inspiring talks are great, but most people struggle with applying the shared knowledge and tips of the author/presenter.

Set up a checklist for your goals! Read it! Do it! Check it off and success will come!

Do your best! Forget the rest!

“Being a pilot is not a job! It’s a passion!”

My name is Joe Diebolder, 36 years young, born in Freiburg/Germany, living in the beautiful city of Munich and flying the Boeing 747 for a major Cargo airline out of Luxembourg.

When I was a kid, my parents used to drop me off at the airport, with a UM bag (unaccompanied minor) around my neck, handing me over to the lovely flight attendants who took care of me during my flights right up until my grandparents or godfather picked me up at the arrivals gate in London Heathrow. My godfather Alastair always knew exactly when I was touching down, as he worked as an air traffic controller for London radar back then. So during my long visits to England, he introduced me to the fascinating world of aviation, driving up to the runways at Heathrow, to feel the ground vibrating when a Boeing 747 or Concorde took off. I quickly realized; this is what I want to do for a living! Flying planes!

At the age of 14, I got my first real piloting experience in a little biplane. My instructor sat in the back seat and I in the front, with a perfectly unobstructed view, which gave me the feeling as if I was flying this plane by myself. Shortly after take-off, the instructor said “Joe, you have control”, so I placed my hands around the control stick and took over. Lucky for me, I quickly got the hang of it as I had some “flying experience” with model aeroplanes. I knew that it would require only some minor inputs in order to fly the plane nice and stable and that’s the moment it caught me- from the wooden control stick straight to my heart. To top the whole experience off, we were flying straight into the sunset. This is the best feeling ever! I want to do this every day!

After completing my Abitur at the Technical Gymnasium in Leutkirch/Germany my destiny had other plans for me though. I received a place at Mainz University to study dentistry. It was by pure luck that I got accepted and as my parents were both passionate dentists, it was a given that they would want me to get a degree first.

Two years into dentistry, I got more and more upset with this decision as I couldn’t see long-term happiness by doing this job. I need to get back into a plane. I need to follow my dream! Back to my initial plan! I dropped out of university and applied to a little flight school in Hohenems/Austria to get my PPL (Private Pilot License). I was buzzing after my first couple of flight lessons and completing my first solo flight after just 10 hours with my instructor. Within five months I got my PPL and I knew I was on the right path. The next stop on my flight student journey was to get my CPL (Commercial Pilot License), IFR (Instrument Flight Rules / Instrument Rating) and ATPL theory (Airline Transport Pilot License) in order to apply to the airlines to get that desired job in one of their cockpits. So I continued my training at a flight school near Düsseldorf / Germany. The first year we didn’t even get to see a plane, it was just hours and hours of theory lessons but I enjoyed that time as I was so excited about understanding the insights of an aeroplane; deepening my technical system knowledge, physics and aerodynamics, learning how clouds form and how environmental factors have an effect on your plane etc.

After successfully completing my theory exams, my three flight school buddies and I were off to Vero Beach / Florida for our practical training, six months of pure flying in the Sunshine State! From little Piper Cadets to twin-engine Piper Seminoles, from remote and abandoned airfields to big international airports like Miami and Orlando, we took off, flew, landed and experienced it all. We had the time of our lives.

After a blissful six months in the US with fantastic, inspiring and motivating flight instructors, we came back to Germany, took our final practical exam and we were let loose to apply to the big airlines. Sadly 2008 wasn’t a great year for the airlines as the industry was still struggling to bounce back from the financial crisis in the previous year. So I had all my required licenses, but no one was hiring!

A few weeks into my misery I had to renew my SEPL (Single Engine Piston Land-Rating). After completing the check flight with my examiner, we got something to eat at the local flying club. As we sat and dined, I overheard a conversation at the next table where a man was talking to his colleague saying: “I don’t know how we are going to manage this summer with only three pilots. I need one more pilot to fly for us!” I immediately got up from our table and walked across to introduce myself. A week later I was rated on the famous Pilatus Porter and dropped out skydivers at 15.000 feet, 30 times a day! I had my first paid job as a pilot! It was not an Airbus or Boeing cockpit, but it had wings and a propeller, it was a start to gain valuable experience.

After an exciting year on the Porter, the skydiving season came to a close. On our last day, we had many guest jumpers joining in from different parts of Germany and as I climbed up to the exit point, one of the skydivers closely monitored my flying skills. I have to say, it freaked me out a little. After my last landing, I enjoyed a great barbeque with my colleagues until the mentioned skydiver comes up to me, “Hey Joe, I’m Matt! I’m the Chief Pilot of an executive company near Düsseldorf, would you want to fly for us during the winter season? You clearly can fly! You can start next week if you are ready?”, “Where do I sign?”, I replied and three weeks later I was rated on the Beech King Air flying businessmen around Europe! I couldn’t believe my luck.

After two years of flying the Pilatus Porter and the Beech King Air, my former crewmate Christina called me up and said, “Joe, I know that Airberlin will start hiring new pilots in a month from now, apply today!” So I did and a month later I got an invitation to go through the assessment centre of Airberlin. Four months later and after receiving one of the best training I had ever experienced, I was type-rated on the Airbus A320 family. I had finally made it into the airline cockpit!