David J Smith was hired by Braniff Airlines in the late 1970s . At that time, more than 70 percent of the pilots hired by US Airlines had a Military background. A few years after David joined Braniff Airlines, the company fell into financial hardship and David's job went away. His second chance to land an Airline job came when someone told him that a small company named Alaska Airlines was hiring pilots. David prepared himself, and did well at the hiring interview, and the rest was history.