Aviation Youtuber and founder of Future Pilot Niner One. I kickstarted my aviation adventure in 2020, by living in my 2-seater car to pay for flying training. Awarded the Donaldson PPL Scholarship 2023, by The Honourable Company of Air Pilots, I now hold Private Pilot's License and I'm taking the modular route becoming an airline pilot. My opinions do not always reflect that of the organisations I am associated with.
Future Pilot Niner One is excited to announce our annual flying scholarships are coming soon!
Background
One of the biggest challenges aspiring pilots must overcome is the cost of flying training.
In 2020, I overcame that financial challenge by living in my 2-seater car. Savings from rent allowed me to kickstart my aviation adventure.
I now hold a Private Pilot’s Licence and, although I have more aviation goals to achieve, I can truly say that I am living my dream.
I am eternally grateful for the incredible people who have made my dream possible through their generous support.
One of the ways I can demonstrate that gratitude is by supporting others in achieving their childhood dream too.
The Flying Scholarship
This year, Future Pilot Niner One is hoping to offer an aspiring pilot, or a student pilot, a flying scholarship worth up to £1000.
Scholarship funds may be used to:
buy essential aviation equipment
cover the cost of flying training
Eligibility Criteria
The successful applicant will
live in the UK
demonstrate the passion and ability to become a pilot
We are still in the early stages of developing this offer. Further details will be confirmed in due time.
Register Your Interest
Applications are set to go live in July 2024.*
👉🏾Click here👈🏾 to register your interest in applying for the 2024 flying scholarship. You will receive the latest information on the scholarship and be notified as soon as the application goes live.
*Important Update: 2024 applications opened in August, not July, exclusively to people who signed up for our scholarship mailing list. Applications are now closed. Further information on the 2025 scholarship will be released in due course.
Until next time, this is Future Pilot Niner one reminding you to live your dreams.
I recently had a little exchange with with a well known aviation youtuber. In one of his videos, he said that, on average, his students go solo at around 20-25hrs. What?!
I commented that I knew people who were ready to solo at around 13-16 hours, in the UK, and asked if there is a different system in his country. His response was that it is “dangerous” to compare hours to solo and that he would prefer to share the skies with someone who had more hours. #Shade!
In case it needs to be said, I actually like his videos. They are great quality and they’ve helped me a lot. So, this blog is not about putting him down, it’s more about considering and criticising his comments.
#SoloBy30
I’m the perfect example of the kind of student who was ‘worried’ about his first solo. A couple months ago, I set a goal to solo before my 30th birthday. As a result, I started a Go Fund Me campaign and was able to raise £1180.72 towards it.
I’m pleased to announce that, although I didn’t solo before my 30th birthday, I did solo on my birthday week. It was an incredible experience! For more on that, subscribe to my YouTube channel. The video will be out on 17th July 2021.
What is George Saying?
For the purposes of this blog, I’m going to refer to the youtuber as George (hopefully there isn’t a prominent aviation youtuber called George lol).
I was taught that a good way to think something through is to outline as strong an argument as possible for the opposing viewpoint. So, I’m going to steelmanGeorge’s argument to see whether I have any counter-arguments left.
George was making the point that it is dangerous to compare the hours by which you solo, because it can be unnecessarily discouraging to those who take longer to solo. Some students may be so down on themselves, so much so, that they quit flight training altogether.
Alternatively, students worrying about their solos may put undue pressure on their flight instructor to let them solo, before they are ready. As a result, something may happen during their first solo, for which they are unprepared, causing them to crash and die. That would be tragic and is worth preventing!
We are all different and we learn at different speeds. We all bring different skills and qualities into flight training. Consequently, everyone’s progress through flight training will look different.
Every student should simply take every lesson as it comes, trusting that their qualified flight instructor is skilled and knowledgeable enough to know when they are ready for their first solo.
In addition, even if it were to take the student more hours to solo, at least they would have more experience and therefore, they would, more likely, be a safer pilot.
Why I Still Completely Disagree
Firstly, does more flying hours automatically equate to a higher level of proficiency? Not necessarily.
Secondly, the fact that George decided to mention that students solo at around 20-25 hours opens it up to comparison. If he did not want people to compare hours, he shouldn’t have contributed to what he sees as a ‘problem’, by offering up that statistic. He should have just said, “students solo when they are ready”. Simples. No? 🤷🏿♂️
Thirdly, no student can solo before their instructor allows them to. It is the job of the flight instructor to make sure that the student is adequately skilled and in the right frame of mind to fly solo, as ‘pilot in command’.
If the flight instructor doesn’t have the testicular fortitude to say “not yet” to a student who isn’t ready, perhaps they should consider a different line of work. As such, how the flight instructor responds is far more important than what the student thinks or feels.
Fourthly, people like me, who are determined to realise their dream of becoming a pilot despite very limited financial resources, have to be incredibly efficient. Being efficient doesn’t mean cutting corners. It means that I want to learn all the skills I need to learn to be a pilot, as well as I can, and as quickly as I can, thereby, spending as little money as possible.
If I had all the money in the world, I’d be happy to never think or “worry” about my solo. That way, George could simply continue to cash-in on my lessons through instructor fees, as well as monetising the videos on Patreon and Youtube. 🙄 tut tut!
Last, and by no means least, George’s argument, has no consideration for the positive side of comparison. There is such a thing as “healthy competition”. It has driven much of our advancement and achievement as human beings.
I felt rather strongly about going solo as quickly as possible. That meant I turned up well read, on the theoretical aspect of the lesson, to the point that I could have briefed my instructor on most days (instead of the other way around).
That same desire led me to practise each manoeuvre, over and over, on my flight simulator, in the lead up to each lesson, until I grew comfortable with it.
I watched YouTube videos to learn as much as I could, vicariously. I looked like an idiot in public, armchair flying whenever I could, ahead of my lessons. I reviewed video footage from all my lessons and kept a diary of what I needed to improve and how I could improve on it.
I turned up to lessons with equipment that my instructors never even told me that I needed. How did I know I needed it? Because my desire to solo as quickly as possible made me take responsibility for my progress, which led me to research more broadly and accept advice from other pilots and flight instructors.
When I messed up my circuits, due to being unprepared for the opposite runway, I sentenced myself to doing 100 circuits on the flight sim. That virtually took all day. 100 x a 5-minute circuits = 8 hrs+, as a conservative estimate. Believe me when I tell you, I was ready for any runway by the time my next lesson came about.
In Conclusion
I have to admit, the more I think through it, the more George’s statement seems somewhat ignorant and, at the very least, doesn’t apply to someone like me.
For now, I’m glad that I “worried” about getting my solo done. That itchiness to solo gave me the motivation to plan ahead and work as hard I possibly could, to make it happen.
As George said, in his response to me, the norm is to solo “when you are ready”. Well, I was ready at just under 14 hours of flying lessons (+ 3 trial flights) and I’m damn well proud of that!
I actually asked George, in my comment, if there was a difference of approaches where he instructs. I just couldn’t understand what he does with his students for the additional 17 hours it took them to solo, in some cases.
I was hoping he would outline his approach in a way that was more useful. If he does something my instructor hasn’t done with me, I’d want to know. Afterall, it is my aim to be the best pilot I can possibly be, irrespective of how many hours I have in the logbook.
Regardless, George is a great youtuber. From the little I’ve seen, I’ve always thought he is a great instructor, and everyone I’ve ever spoken to about him thought so too.
Who knows?! Maybe one day I’ll meet him and we’ll hash it out, if it is still relevant and useful to do so. Anyways, a lot has been said. Now, I retreat, to reflect.
What do you think? I’m genuinely curious. In particular, I would like to learn of counterarguments I haven’t considered as yet. Please drop your thoughts in the comments section below.
After all, it is when we are wrong – when we fail – that we truly learn the most. Failures reveal what we haven’t yet learned. Learning makes progress possible. Progress is the best any of us can hope for. Speak your mind!
For more on how I’m getting on with learning to fly, check me out on the YouTube.👊🏾
This is the second in a series of 2 blogs in which I share my recent conversation with a Boeing 777 Captain of a major airline in the USA. The first blog was ‘A Chat With A Boeing 777 Captain’.
Annoyingly, I didn’t get a chance to record the conversation since it happened on a noisy, London Underground train.
Here’s what I’ve done instead. I’ve poured all the fragments of the conversation into a pile of words, on the screen, from memory, and have pieced them back together as accurately and as concisely as I could manage it. I hope you will find it interesting and insightful. I know I did!
CONTINUED
8. How often do you practice emergency procedures at your airline?
We have a 4-day training every year. The first 2 days are focused on the theoretical side and the last 2 days are in the simulator.
9. What advice would you give to an aspiring pilot such as myself?
Think of yourself as a 65 year-old, after you’ve retired, what experience would you be happy to look back on? Pursue that.
I have 2 kids, a boy and a girl. Something I tell my kids, although they are not interested in flying, and that’s ok, is that there are 2 kinds of people: those who ‘make life happen’ and those who ‘watch life happen’.
Pilots are not the kind of people who ‘watch life happen’, they ‘make life happen’. If you really want it, you’ll find a way to make your dream happen.
Something to bear in mind is that seniority is everything. If you know that the airlines are where you want to be, ‘pedal to the metal’, get there as quickly as you can.
I have friends who came into the airlines 2 years later than I and they only just became captains, because of the crises that shook up the aviation industry. The more senior you are, the better the position you’ll be in, to ride all the ups and downs.
There is so much you can’t control. It’s a tough journey, and you will face disappointments. You just have to keep going.
10. What disappointments have you had to push through?
I didn’t have any financial support form my parents. I had to take up a job as a waiter to start my flight training. Everything changed when I got into the military but until then, it was tough.
Disappointments come in different forms, everyone faces them. You ask anyone, in any field, and they will have faced disappointments. It’s just a part of life.
My Conclusion
It was great running into Chip. I got a much needed boost from the conversation, even though I already knew what he was saying to be true. In particular, I’m thinking of what he said about ‘making life happen’.
People, usually those who are not in aviation, often suggest that I reach out to pilots to ask for help and support. As it happens, I do have access to airline captains and first officers, but the thought of asking for a hand-out makes me cringe.
I know that people suggesting this are on my side, and so they want my journey to be easier on me. However, from my point of view, there are many who would like that kind of support, and very few opportunities available; there are tough challenges and no easy solutions.
As such, I would rather build something, and hopefully it is something of value – hence the blog and the YouTube channel – than sit around, hoping a saviour comes along.
Maybe I am wrong, and I just don’t know in what way I might be wrong. What I do know, however, is that no matter how big your dream is, no matter what little you have, you always have enough to get started towards that dream – whatever that means for you. Little steps amount to great distances, over time.
Once you start moving towards your dream, and once you start making the most of whatever you have, you increasingly attract the opportunities that will help you along the way.
Until next time, stay safe and live your dreams.✌🏾
For more on how I’m getting on with learning to fly, check me out on the YouTube.👊🏾
This is the first of a series of 2 blogs in which I share my recent conversation with a Boeing 777 Captain of a major airline in the USA. Annoyingly, I didn’t get a chance to record the conversation since it happened on a noisy, London Underground train.
Here’s what I’ve done instead. I’ve poured all the fragments of the conversation into a pile of words, on the screen, from memory, and have pieced them back together as accurately and as concisely as I could manage it. I hope you will find it interesting and insightful. I know I did!
The Conversation Starter
One of the big reasons why I advise people to share their goals is that, in doing so, you draw people who identify with you and people who will support you.
In my case, I was literally wearing my dream-goal as I sat on the train, reviewing the theoretical side of my next lesson. I had a T-shirt on that read ‘Born To Fly’. Chip, who sat across from me, asked if I fly. That was the beginning of our conversation.
My mentor always said, when you are in the presence of people who are more successful than you, don’t say much, just ask questions. So, I fired as many questions as I could come up with on the fly.
Chip The Captain
Chip, a middle-aged, Boeing triple-7 captain at a major airline in the USA, started off like many of us, with a dream. His dream was to become a pilot. With no funding available from his parents, he took a job as a waiter, to start making his dream a reality.
His first solo flight came when he was aged 16. I’m often told that pilots never forget their first solos. I could tell from the way Chip’s face lit up, that it his first solo was still vivid in his mind.
Chip later joined the military where he advanced his flight training. One thing led to another and eventually, he became an airline pilot.
Here are some of questions I asked, and what he said in response.
My Chat With Chip
Which airliners have you flown? I flew as second and first officer on a 727, first officer on 757, 767, and first officer and then captain on 777.
2. Which one was your favourite? 757. It’s brilliant! The performance is great. Losing an engine is a non-issue, easily corrected rudders. The power ratio from one engine makes the flight relatively smooth.
3. What is the trickiest destination you fly? London. You can really be behind the curve if you don’t know all the rules. There are a lot of rules in UK airspace, compared to other countries. It’s one of the destinations we train for specifically, to make sure we don’t mess it up.
4. Do you end up on this side of the Atlantic very often? No, not as often as I would like.
5. What is the coolest approach you fly? Tegucigalpa, Honduras. It’s really cool. Look up airplanes landing at TGU on Youtube. (You don’t have to look it up, here is a link I found. click here)
6. What is it like for pilots right now, in the airlines? I don’t know what it’s like over here (in the UK), but in America, there are many pilots retiring. We can already feel the shortage. The pilot shortage will only get worse in years to come, so it’s a good time to be in training.
7. What’s the most eventful flight you’ve had so far? It’s not so much eventful, as it is memorable. In the military, I was deployed in operation dessert storm in 1991, the year that you were born. There were these scud missiles used, terribly in accurate but deadly. The smoke from them would rise up to 10,000 feet and just level-off. I remember flying at around 10,000 ft. The view was incredible.
In the airlines, I haven’t really had many eventful flights. I lost my hydraulics once but with 2 back up systems, it’s virtually a non-issue. So, most of my memorable flights are from my time in the military.
Next Time
I don’t want to make these posts too long so this is probably a good place to stop. I have been releasing a blog post every Friday, over the last few weeks, and will continue to do so, as long as I can manage it.
In the next part of my conversation with the triple 7 captain, he gives me just the advice I needed to hear (you might need to hear it too). He then turned the tables on me and started asking me some questions. For all that and more, see you back here, next week.
Until next time, stay safe and live your dreams.✌🏾
For more on how I’m getting on with learning to fly, check me out on the YouTube.👊🏾
We admire people who are courageous. Better yet, we are inspired by them. They are giants in our eyes, whatever their physical stature. Even the smallest person can be a giant, a ‘force of nature’, if they are courageous.
What could you become, if you had a little more courage?
We could all do with a bit more courage. At least, I know I could. Anyone know any one selling courage in a bottle? I wish!…I don’t mean drugs. Although drugs can disinhibit us and give us a temporary ‘courage’ (if we can even call it that), it’s not always appropriate to be ‘under the influence’ and it certainly isn’t always healthy. I don’t think that the benefit of drug-induced ‘courage’ outweighs the costs.
Holding Back From Your Dream?
One of the biggest things that kept me from starting off on my dream of become a pilot was fear. How paradoxical then that one of the biggest things that made me finally pursue my dream of becoming a pilot was fear.
Fear can keep you from trying new things, from expressing yourself fully and from making yourself vulnerable. However, fear isn’t only an inhibiting force. It can enable you to run faster than you ever have, jump higher than you ever thought you could and endure far more than you ever have.
I’ve had the dream and hope of becoming a pilot, for as long as I can remember. That was the carrot. It was calling me forth, to an adventure unlike any I had ever embarked on. Interestingly, I didn’t do much about it. I stayed in my comfort zone, waiting to pursue my dream at a more convenient time.
What Will Happen If You Don’t Try?
What sprung me into action was the development of a new, more powerful fear than that which held me back. Instead of being shackled by the fear of what would happen if I went for my dream, I was pushed by the fear of what would happen if I didn’t.
I realised that life could actually pass me by, that I could spend another another 6 years, and then another, and another, and never get any closer to my dream.
I became afraid of being an old man and having my dream turn into nothing more than a bitter regrets. I became afraid of living a life of insignificance, doing everything other than the very thing I’m most passionate about.
I am afraid of becoming the kind of person I would become, if I were to allow fear to shackle and keep me from the righteous pursuit of living my dream. That person is neither the kind of person I would admire, nor the kind of person I would be inspired by.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not suggesting that fear is the best fuel or motivator to get anyone to their goal. Hope is a powerful, sustainable and enduring force.
I’m just saying, if you must fear, fear what would happen if you didn’t pursue that which you know to be the most valuable pursuit, even in your own estimation.
Live your dreams. After all, is there anything better to do?
For more on how I’m getting on with learning to fly, check me out on the YouTube.👊🏾
One of the mantras that has kept me focused this week is, “keep the main thing, the main thing”. When I shared it with colleagues in the staffroom, during our lunch break, my mantra was met with a, ‘huh?’, along with an expression like that of a cow staring at a new gate. Hopefully I can do better this time around.
Aviate. Navigate. Communicate.
As a student pilot, there is so much for me to learn and it is easy to become task saturated in the cockpit – having much to do and not much time to do it in. Of course, I have my flight instructor with me, but only for now. At some point, it will be all down to me. As such, it is important for me to be able to separate what needs to be done immediately from what can wait – I must prioritise. If I don’t, I could easily end up a statistic.
Everyday, we are thrown into numerous situations requiring us to navigate an insane amount of choices and arbitrate between competing priorities. We encounter people who have their own agendas and if we are not careful, their agenda inadvertently becomes our agenda, and before we know it, we are further away from our goals and desires.
As a student pilot I have to learn to fly the aeroplane, to navigate and to communicate with the appropriate Air Traffic Service Unit. Inevitably, there are times when these 3 priorities clash. I might find myself in a position where I am lost, not in complete control of the aircraft whilst also being required to respond to a call.
There are 3 really important things to do in this situation: fly the plane, fly the plane and fly the plane! It cannot be overstated. If I lose control of the plane and find myself plummeting to the ground, navigating and communicating become somewhat irrelevant to my outcome.
Identify Your Goal In Any Given Situation
“If you aim at nothing, you will hit every time.”
Zig Ziglar
One of the great things about the mantra I have been using is that it prompts me to identify what my true priority is in that moment. This was particularly useful when I was frustrated due to feeling like things were not going the way I wanted them to go. As such, I realised I didn’t have to win every single battle and have everything go my way. I only needed one specific thing out of my day, out of my interaction or whatever situation I was in.
Consider what you are doing now. What is your goal? What is the main thing? You may have to wrestle with your goals and desires a while before the true priority reveals itself. Your priority, your main thing, will differ with each situation. It might be to listen, to think, to plan, to simply get started, to create a terrible first draft, to be playful, to be yourself, to save money, to collect data, to support, to rest, to learn something new or to progress, and so on.
Distractions are everywhere, available free of charge. Some distractions are clear, while others come in a disguise. Like cunning thieves, distractions can steal your resources – time, money, energy – and leave you further from your goal. To give yourself the best chance of reaching your goal and living your dream, make sure you keep the main thing, the main thing.
The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.
Flying at 2000ft, a few hundred feet below fluffy, dark grey clouds, my flight instructor asked me to perform a medium level turn to the left. A medium level turn is a turn of up to 30° angle of bank, at a constant altitude.
At first, my instructor talked me through the basic manoeuvre. It was clear I understood the theory but my body seemed to be lagging. I was all over the place. The more that he corrected me, the less thinking i was able to do. However, just a few minutes later, he asked me to do something that made a huge difference.
Cockpit of Cessna 152
You Is All You Get
Have you ever thought about the fact that whatever you’re going to achieve in life, your body, mind and being – which you possess right now – are the tools with which you must achieve it?
As such, it seems that one of the most important things you can do is learn to maximise these tools – to study yourself as much as possible and to place yourself in conditions that are most conducive to your success.
What do you like? What do you hate? What works for you? What doesn’t work for you? Why?
I’ve been convinced for years and nothing so far has happened to shake me from the idea that I should be my number 1 student. The more you learn how you function and put yourself in places that maximise you, the better the results you will get.
A Shift In Responsibility
The thing that made the difference was that my instructor asked me to talk through the manoeuvre. He sat back and listened, as he observed.
Somehow, talking through the manoeuvre allowed an increase in my mind-body connection. My turns weren’t perfect, but they were waaay better. Where I made errors, I self-corrected relatively efficiently.
Thankfully my instructor was humble and aware enough to notice. He suggested that perhaps he should shut up and let me talk through the manoeuvres (more often). After watching the footage and thinking about it, I fully agree!
More Of That Please
As long as it is safe to do so, that seems to be what works for me. I now have the choice of ignoring that or taking advantage of that. Considering that cost of flight training, I think I’ll go for the latter. I’ve got to have a chat with my instructor and make it happen.
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learnt over the last year is that when you set off on a journey, to achieving an important goal, you will likely have problems you didn’t foresee.
However, even more importantly, there are incredibly useful solutions that will reveal themselves, but only once you have embarked on and committed yourself to the journey. At least, that seems to be the case for me.
At the end of the 2020, I had a chat with one of my accountability partners and told him that my big goal was to solo for my birthday. I had no clue how it would happen, except that I’d try to make it happen.
A few months later, after one of my flying lessons, my car broke down as I pulled away, in slow-moving traffic. Thankfully, this didn’t happen when I was doing 80mph *cough* *cough* I mean 70mph on the M11 motorway (highway).
The mechanics listened to the clanging and banging in the engine and said it wouldn’t be worth fixing. They gave me a quote for a replacement engine, £1,800. I was devasted. I knew this would have a huge impact on my flying.
I was really tempted to put flight training on hold, to pay for my car’s heart transplant. After all, I rely on it for so much more than just transport (particularly when out of lockdowns). As soon as I decided to put flight training on hold, I recognised in myself the same ‘impulse to pause’ that had crippled many people’s path to progress.
A fear grew within. I realised that if I gave myself an excuse to pause flight training, I might always find an excuse to pause it, which means I may never achieve my dream-goal. There was no way I would allow myself to go down that path.
In the end, I decided to take the car off the road for a few months while I saved up and continued with my monthly flying lessons. With my financial priorities split, having my first solo flight before my 30th Birthday seemed impossible.
Here’s what’s crazy though. Out of curiosity, I asked my flying instructor how far I was my first solo flight. He said, he estimated that I would need another 10 hours. 10 hours? That works out to be £1,800 exactly. Remember that figure from anywhere? Coincidence?
I remember a while back, one of my friends advised me to start a crowdfunding campaign. Now seemed as good a time as any, so I launched a Go Fund Me campaign, #SoloBy30.
I’ve been overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity that I’ve been shown, through financial gifts, as well as words of encouragement. I know that each and every penny gifted to me was hard-earned, and there are many, and arguably better ways that money might have been spent, but those people chose to support me on my journey. I’m humbled and very grateful. Thank you.
If, this time last year, you told me that I’d be preparing for my first solo flight for my 30th Birthday, I’d have bitten you arm off. And yet, here I am, but I’m not sure exactly how it’s all happened. Of course, I’m still a long way from my Private Pilot’s License, but it’s progress, and that’s all one can hope for.
With just over 4 weeks to go, everything seems to be coming together so well. I passed my Air Law exam last year. I’m in the process of sorting out my medical certificate and all the financial gifts I have received have given me a much needed boost to make it all happen.
You never realise just how pathetically unskilled you are at something until you get started. Sure, there are times when your innate abilities and previously attained skills will carry you through, but most of the time when you are truly broadening your horizons, you’ll find yourself in the land of uselessness. At the very least, this seems to be true in my case. But, does that mean you should stop? Does that mean you can’t learn?
One of the greatest challenges of being human, I think, is the fact that we are imperfect beings with perfect (or arguably naive) imaginations. No one ever imagines themselves being useless, least of all when they are mentally, emotionally, physically and financially invested in achieving a righteous goal.
Sure, people hold back at times because they feel they won’t be any good. However, when we decided to go for something, and invest everything that we have and everything that we are into a goal, we rarely ever imagine ourselves being shockingly terrible at it. If we did, we just wouldn’t do it.
I had one of those ‘shockers’ not too long ago during one of my flying lessons. Sitting on the left-hand seat, in the cockpit of the Piper Pa28, my instructor asked if I was ready to make the initial radio call. I had never made a radio call to an Air Traffic Service Unit before, but I had practised over and over, before the lesson, just in case. Needless to say, when the time came to deliver the good, I completely butchered it! (See for yourself: My RT Call Fail)
I was slow. I didn’t give all the necessary information. My read back was incorrect. I even used the wrong callsign at the end; a great way to crown an amateur radio call. It’s one thing to master it on your own. Delivering the goods in the moment, under pressure, with lots of other things on your mind at the same time, that’s something else. That, I certainly didn’t do.
You might say I am being harsh with myself. You’re right! Of course it was amateur attempt. What else did I expect? What were the chances that it would be professional level, at my first attempt? It isn’t failure that is a surprise, it’s success that should be baffling.
“You will never improve at something you haven’t started.”
Future Pilot Niner One
It is far easier to see the bigger picture when you are looking into the frame, as opposed to standing in it. When we are the ones in the hot seat, it is much harder to be charitable to ourselves, and yet it is necessary. It is the challenge of being an imperfect being, with a perfect, or arguably naive, imagination.
It is easy to stay within the limits of your comfort zone. There, you are a great success with consistent victories. Beyond that, everything looks foggy, uncertain and chaotic. However, despite others being impressed with you, you might find yourself haunted by the idea that you can do, achieve and be more.
To realise the potential buried within you, you must go beyond your current comfort zone – carefully, methodically but certainly. Beware! The more that you venture beyond the bounds of your current capabilities, the more you expose yourself to the possibility of failure and the discovery of your current inadequacies, in light of your goal.
As much as you might imagine yourself being perfect in your process of growth – not making the dumbest mistakes along the way, always feeling motivated and ‘up for the task’, taking 2 steps forward and no steps back and people always having your back and so on – the real world doesn’t conform to your imagination.
Besides, there is something far more real and more important than trying to live up to the perfect and perfectly illusive conjurings of the imagination, it’s called ‘progress’. There is something more satisfying, it’s called ‘effort’.
I am encouraged by the words CT Fletcher who says that there is victory in knowing that you did all you could do. I am encouraged by the words of Jordan B Peterson when he says, “Just because you have faults doesn’t mean you have to stop. Just because you have faults doesn’t mean you can’t learn.”
Remember that when you venture, even tentatively, beyond your comfort zone in an attempt to become something more than what you currently are. Your mistakes reveal where you are now, allowing you to more accurately plot your path towards what you could be.
The path to success is paved with many failures – even the kinds of failures that we never imagined. Every failure is an opportunity to learn. Every lesson learned unlocks further progress. Every bit of progress means we are truly closer to our goal, when compared to where we started.
I can’t believe I’ll be turning 30 soon! I’m nearly a dinosaur, but I feel young (when I’m not tearing my quads from playing football without warming up). As they say, “you are as old as you feel”… Am I being a bit over-dramatic? Likely!
After debating it for sometime, I have decided to launch a ‘Go Fund Me’ campaign, in celebration of my 3 decades on the planet. I look forward to sharing more updates with you over the coming weeks.
IN BRIEF
Last year, I made the bold and probably crazy idea to start living in my car to put the extra cash towards achieving my childhood dream of becoming a pilot. Despite all the concerns, I knew this was the only way to truly kickstart my journey towards my dream.
The commitment and sacrifice I have made since last year has allowed me to make amazing progress towards my dream. However, with only a teaching assistant’s salary and an hourly training cost of £180 (travel and equipment not included), progress has been slower than ideal.
This year, it is my goal to have my first solo flight by my 30th birthday, on 8th June 2021. This means, my instructor will allow me to fly the airplane alone, while he supervises from the ground. It’s one the most exciting phases of training – like a child taking its first steps!
I am only 10 Flying hours away from my first solo. Your financial gift will help make my dream come true, on one of the most significant years of my life.
THE BREAKDOWN 10 Flying Hours : £1,800 Class 2 Medical : £200 Total £2,000
DEADLINE: 1st June 2021
I’ve been sharing my journey on YouTube, so you will be able to share in this exciting experience with me, seeing first-hand the life-changing impact of your financial gift of any amount.
Seriously, every little helps. If you can’t give, please do share my campaign with someone who might. Thank you in advance!
The last year brought many milestones. I had my first official flying lesson, I performed my first take off and landing as well as achieving a first time pass in 3 exams. I have 6 left to complete, before qualifying for a Private Pilot’s License. This, in itself, is waaay more progress than all the previous years put together!
In addition to that, I got myself a new laptop and basic flight simulator equipment. This would allow me to practice and maintain my skill in between lessons (useful during lockdowns!). Using the flight sim also means that I spend less time being bamboozled in the cockpit and more time refining what I already practised.
My GoPro and action cameras, bought over the last year, have allowed me to review and milk each flying lesson. In turn, this allows to make the most amount of progress possible. It also means that I can post on instagram and YouTube, where you can follow my adventure.
What’s Next?
After my first solo flight, I will have around 30 more hours to complete before becoming eligible for a Private Pilot’s License.
Eventually, I hope to become a commercial pilot and work as a flying instructor, combining my passion for aviation wit my passion for teaching. For now that’s a long ways off. I would settle for a solo flight by the 8th of June. That’s what I will be preparing for.
In the distant (but not too distant) future, once I have my licenses, I hope to do outreach work to young people who may find themselves in disadvantaged positions. I hope that my story will encourage and inspire them to go after their dreams, early on, despite how impossible it might seem.
A statement in the book, ‘Key Person of Influence’, has stuck with me since the day I read. The author said, “Choose a game you are willing to play, win or lose”. Flying training, this is the game I have decided to play, win or lose. I hope that you will help me win.
Your financial gift, of any amount, will go a long way in helping me realise my dream. I hope that you will support me on my journey. I look forward to giving you updates each step of the journey.
Seriously, every little helps. If you can’t give, please do share my campaign with someone who might. Thank you in advance!
