Former Boilermaker Markell Jones calls flying Purdue football team "dream come true"

Inspired by his father, Jym, Markell Jones dreamed of becoming a pilot and started his journey at Purdue.

The former standout running back for the Boilermakers has fulfilled his goal, first working for Piedmont Airlines and now as a first officer for United Airlines.

But Saturday afternoon, Jones will reach another professional goal – he’ll be second in command of a United Airlines charter flight that will bring the football team from Columbus, Ohio, to Purdue’s Airport following the Big Ten game at Ohio State (noon ET, Fox).

He’ll land the 737 airplane on the same runway where Jones started in the school’s aviation program, earning a degree in professional flight technology. He was named Indiana’s Mr. Football after a stellar career at Columbus East before enrolling at Purdue

“It’s a full circle moment,” the 28-year-old Jones said. “I was talking to my dad and told him, ‘That’s the place where I first flew an airplane and commanded an airplane by myself, and now to go back in there with such an amazing airline like United, I just couldn’t have written it any better.’ ”

Jones joined United in April and remains a first officer until he logs enough hours to earn captain status. He was a captain at Piedmont Airlines before moving to United.

Jones believes he “can convince the captain to let me fly the trip that actually has the team on the plane.” The plane will leave Chicago and land in Columbus around 3:30 p.m. and is scheduled to depart for West Lafayette around 5 p.m. and return to Chicago on Saturday night. Jones is based out of Chicago.

He’ll “babysit” the plane until the team arrives at the airport following the game.

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If permitted by the captain, Jones will try to make the announcements to the passengers in the cabin.

“The one thing I won’t do is I can’t act outside of what I normally do in my role,” he said. “I do have a job to do, but it’s a really cool, awesome opportunity, and maybe I’ll throw a ‘Boiler Up’ on the PA or something.”

One of Jones’ teammate at Purdue, T.J. McCollum, is a defensive analyst on coach Ryan Walters’ staff but he doesn’t have a connection with the current players or other coaches. Jones signed with the Boilermakers when Darrell Hazell was the coach and finished his career playing for Jeff Brohm. He’s currently the sixth-leading rusher in program history with 2,594 yards, including a career-high 217 against Indiana in 2018.

Jones checks United’s trip availability for pilots on a daily, sometimes an hourly basis, looking for opportunities. Jones submitted a request on Wednesday, and when he checked his phone at 2 a.m., he was approved.

“I’m just checking flights Wednesday, and I saw a one-day trip pop in there,” he said. “I looked at it, and it said Purdue University, but whoever put it in there actually misspelled Purdue. They spelled it PER, like the chicken. I looked at the location and checked the football schedule, and I’m like, ‘We’re at Ohio State this week.’ I put two and two together.”

Jones said a Purdue graduate is flying the Boilermakers from West Lafayette to Columbus, Ohio, on Friday. Jones was trying to make a trade to take that flight but wasn’t successful.

After graduating in 2019, Jones returned to Columbus and became a flight instructor. He also worked in Morgantown, West Virginia, and when he accumulated enough hours, he was hired by Piedmont and stayed about 2 ½ years before moving to United.

“I just turned 28 this year, and to be at one of the major airlines at 28, I’m super stoked about where I am,” he said. “This will be the last job I’ll ever have. I’ll be here until I’m 65 or until I decide to stop flying and pursue other ventures.”

Saturday may not be the last time Jones will be in the cockpit to fly a Purdue team from another Big Ten location or across the country. But he won’t forget the first time.

“It’s going to sound a little cliché, but it is a dream come true,” he said. “There’s only so many things to accomplish with certain destinations that I’d like to go to, but this is definitely a bucket list item. To be able to do this is something I’ll remember for a long time.”