Love is in the Air : OFF DUTY (the Valentine's Day edition)

Two of our Pilot brand ambassadors, Annie & Marcus, tied the knot last year. We couldn't have been more excited to hear their news! Especially when Annie phoned to share that they would like to wear Cockpit USA for their special day. 

Please join us in an audio re-counting and celebrating of the love that Annie & Marcus share for both aviation and most importantly... for each other! Transcription and images located below audio. 

Transcription: 

Pilot Annie 0:00
So Marcus and I are just sitting here having our morning coffee. I had to spring this quasi interview on him because otherwise he probably wouldn't do it. So the first question we got is, “How did you two meet?” So Marcus, do you want to start with answering that question?

Marcus 0:22
Bumble. LOL . I was on a charter down to a town called Oakville and was spending the night there. I fired up the old Bumble machine and along came Annie and, you know, I did the old swipe right and it was a match. Well, obviously she messaged me first, I think that's how Bumble works, right? Yeah, yeah. And the next thing you know, like an hour later, she came to pick me up from the hotel, and we were having drinks. And that's pretty much it.

Pilot Annie 1:12
I think what a lot of people ask is whether or not we knew that we were pilots. So yes, I had a picture of myself in an airplane and Marcus had a picture of a helicopter. So we kind of knew right away.

The next question is “tell me about the proposal.” So why don't you line it up Marcus, and I'll take over once we get to the part where we're approaching with a helicopter.

Marcus 1:50
Okay. So I set it up. We had two friends that were photographers and we were going to go do some fall promo shoots for big blue air, the company that I work for, and my parents have property just south the airport where I built a helipad on many years ago. And so secretly, I went and put a sign on the helipad without telling the photographer's or Annie. We took off from Collingwood flew around and got a bunch of shots. It was a beautiful fall morning. And then I said well, hey why don't we go over to the heli pad and get some shots with the fall colors in the background. We'll shut down and land there.

Pilot Annie 3:08
Yeah, so he had spray painted “Will you marry me” on this big piece of plywood and drilled that down to the heli pad. And so I noticed it on approach, but then I didn't want to freak out because he was still flying. And so he knew that I saw it and I knew what was going on but I thought I'd be calm and let him land. And then when he landed, he popped the ring out and asked me to marry him. And I said, “I’ll think about it for a number of years before I commit” and here we are today, haha.

“so you mentioned that it's incredible to find someone who shares your passion. Can you elaborate more on what that means to you?” So when I said that, I mean that it's nice because your partner then becomes a part of everything that's important to you in your life. So if Marcus wasn't interested in aviation, that means that I would probably be doing a lot more things within aviation by myself, and he wouldn't be a part of it, which would probably create a rift in the relationship. Maybe not but it certainly is Nice that we can just go fly together. I can bring him along on my adventures and he knows what's going on. That and he's interested in it, So that's what I meant by that. But what do you think it means, Marcus?

Marcus 4:54
Yeah, I mean, it's huge to have someone that's your partner and is interested in what you're doing. You can bounce ideas off each other. Even though we don't work together, it's a great working relationship because we talk about each other's experiences and skill sets. You know, they work well together. I've met more people in aviation with you than I ever did in 10 years prior to that. It just makes it a little more fun and interesting and exciting for coming home. You know what, where do you fly today? What do you do today? Yeah, tough to describe, but it works Well.

Pilot Annie 6:52
It's often said that trust is a key ingredient in a healthy relationship. How does trust play a role when flying together? Well, Marcus is a very experienced pilot. So even though he's not maybe as experienced with airplanes, he's quickly becoming very experienced in them. But he has a lot of I guess, skill built up over the years. So he he's good decision maker, so I generally don't question him very much. That being said, I think we stay on top of each other. I definitely stay on top of you a lot when we're flying fixed wing and I'm like, where are your flaps? Did you like let's pull the QRP Yeah, so, so I'm like I think we're both watching each other to make sure that we're being safe. But it's not like it's not like intimidating or overpowering and overbearing feeling. It's just like we're flying together, regardless of kind of what machine we're flying.

Marcus 8:02
Yeah, it makes it makes your pilot workload a lot less. You know, one person can be doing weather radios, the other person can actually be flying. It's it's like a two crew scenario, which is kind of funny, but it's almost unspoken. You just kind of know what the other person's doing. Because we know each other so well it it works well.

Pilot Annie 8:20
You’re my best friend. Okay, next question is. “Tell me about your special day, your wedding and what inspired you to choose cockpit USA and the ceremony”.

Marcus 8:42
The jacket chose us, like a wand. LOL Yeah. box just showed up on my kitchen table.

Pilot Annie 8:55
Yeah, so the wedding was at our family farm and it was outdoor. We had about 100 people and it was very rustic, which is cool. But yeah, we had a friend who organized a five plane flyover. So literally, we had just said “I do” and we had four Harvard's and a Beechcraft 18 flyover which was awesome because they had the smoke on and everything. But before we actually got to our “I do's”, we went to the airport and had our photo shoot with the airplanes and at that point, it was just like a cool way to incorporate aviation a little bit more and have it fit in more with what we were wearing. It was just a natural decision that we wanted to do that. not to mention we saw Mark Brown and Ashley do it. So we wanted to do it too because it looks so good.

Marcus 10:15
It was very hot putting on a winter jacket in 30 degrees weather so it was definitely for the shot.

Pilot Annie 10:26
“Share something about the other that he or she would never say about themselves.”

You go first

Marcus 10:39
um she's the most giving person I've ever met. There's never a celebration, whether it be a birthday, anniversary or engagement or whatever that you know. She's going out buying gifts and willing to give anything to whoever is celebrating whatever they're celebrating. And it's never missed.

Pilot Annie 11:13
I was telling Rudy about this actually. gifting is my love language. I like giving and receiving. LOL Yeah, I would say that something that Marcus would never say about himself is that he is incredibly protective. Yes. Yes, you are. Because even the last time we were skiing you were constantly watching over me and I could feel your stare to make sure I didn't fall because I was not wearing a helmet. So yeah, that's something that not a lot of people know about you.

“what can we expect to see from Pilot Annie and pilot Marcus this year?” Lots of adventures. We've got a lot going on. Our travel is matching up quite well so far. So looks like we have heli Expo in a few weeks. After that, I think we go our separate ways for a week or so before we join back up at home. And then hopefully there's room for Marcus to join us for Oshkosh again because that was really fun last year. Unfortunately that is Marcus's busy season. So it's always a bit of a mission to get him out. But yeah, probably more flying adventures, hopefully more flying in our aircraft. But I think that's it. Thank you so much for including us and looking forward to seeing you guys very soon in New York for Memorial Day. Can't wait!