Why I Left My Career to Follow Faith, Flight & Reinvention — Eric Cooter’s Story

Welcome to the very first episode of Never Too Late. I’m your host, Eric Cooter, and in this episode I step into the guest chair to share my own story of reinvention.Since the age of 15, I dreamed of being a professional pilot. But life took me down other roads first—corporate management, ordained ministry, and years of serving as a priest and diocesan leader in the Episcopal Church. Along the way, I carried both joy and heartbreak, success and setback, and always that quiet pull back to aviation.Eventually, through courage, resilience, and a leap of faith, I found my way back to the skies—flying jets, serving as a captain, and now teaching future aviators as a simulator instructor.This is a story about following your calling, navigating loss and transition, and holding onto the belief that it’s never too late to rediscover your passion, rewrite your story, and begin again.