Unveiling The Pages Of My Past: My Childhood – Get to Know Me.
This is an unusual post for once. It’s not about any insights, nor is it educational nor is it of any experiences attending talks. Instead, this will be a nostalgic, inspirational post rewinding back to my childhood and my dreams for the next generation of young males and females in aviation.
Let me give you a background into my childhood!
You see, I’ve always loved flying – I truly cannot explain it, it runs in my blood. It’s more than a passion, it’s everything I’ve known for as long as I’ve been alive. Now, for those that read my ‘About me’ will know I grew up in a low income household. My parents would be working day and night just to provide for us.. and there was five of us. So hats off to them since I cannot comprehend the struggle of raising two let alone five and that too having come from another country.
It was always clear I wouldn’t be one of those kids who could simply fly for pleasure – that was the difficult part. I remember a friend in my class who was also into flying like me – we’d discuss all the flying he’d done and how he’s having to learn the phonetic alphabet with his instructor. I recall the one time he mentioned he couldn’t tell me the routes he’s flown to due to confidentiality and security reasons. Gosh, the jealousy that would run through my blood aha! And can we please clarify what security reasons… I laugh at this now knowing it was just a ploy to tease me! I think after a while I was okay with the idea of not flying – I knew it was a matter of time before it would eventually happen. I just didn’t know when.
My parents knew how much I loved aviation. They knew they couldn’t afford to take me flying. Instead, they signed up to the monthly General Aviation (GA) magazine subscription. Every month I’d be buzzing as the postman dropped off the magazine. It was a 3 step process when it came to the GA magazine: Flick, read and rip.
Flick through the pages. Read as quick as I can. Rip out the pictures for my wall.And just like that I became one of those kids that’d rip out pages from an Argos catalogue. Instead my version was an aviation magazine.
Below I attach a photo of some of the stack of GA I have. This photo below is 5 years worth of monthly magazines!
I still have all the ones I hadn’t ripped under my bed to this day! I’ll show you at some point.
Update – see above photo!
Posters
Every year there’d be a new set of plane posters on my wall – it was like clockwork. There’d always be a change around November time. We didn’t have a printer, so I’d have to resort to ripping out airplane photos from the aviation magazines. I can most certainly tell you there’s nothing better than waking up to fresh posters and envisaging a future as a pilot.
Here’s a photo of some of my posters:
Following on from my childhood – What are the plans for the future?
As a child, I genuinely know the harsh reality of wanting to fly and knowing you simply cannot afford it – it’s almost feels unattainable. On my journey to becoming an airline pilot I want to help those looking to get into aviation. I want to reach out to as many young people from low income, less privileged background as I can. I want to help young girls realise their potentials and muster the courage to follow their dream. I want to help people from black and ethnic minority (BAME) backgrounds realise they CAN achieve their dream and absolutely nothing should stop them in doing so. I want to help anyone that is exploring a career in aviation.
How I am looking to do this:
Create a blog page – documenting my journey as authentic as I can. Create something that is MORE than just a blog page. I want to interview Pilots/Cabin crew, training pilots, share updates on license changes and more!
Create a podcast (more info to follow) – At the age of 16, I wrote out the Pooley’s PPL notes. I want to create an audio revision playlist (revisit these and the ATPL study guides). As well as discussing the weekly aviation news. As it grows I’d like to get different people on there to discuss various topics around aviation.
I want to set up a not-for-profit pilot’s networking days – This will be something I do later during training (with a bit of expertise and wisdom). I hope to set up a hall with exhibition stands, presentations and dinner in collaboration with organisations, training schools and airlines. Attendance will be absolutely FREE to aspiring pilots/students and commercial pilots. This will be my way of giving back to industry and a chance to promote the great organisations that support my journey into the cockpit. To be funded by donations and exhibition stand fees.
Growing up there were no scholarships or funding for young people. Today, it truly inspires me to see the change in the industry – great organisations like Pilot Flight Academy (PFA – Norway), Aviation Southwest, TUI, Aer Lingus, Leading Edge Aviation, The Air Pilots and The Air league are amongst key players giving young people hope and transforming their dream into reality. I look forward to the next decade where flying becomes far more accessible than it was in the past few decades. And when more opportunities become available for more young people!