January 31, 2021
by Zette Saquian
Everyone has dreams, may it be small dreams or big dreams. May we be young or old, we all have dreams. Some dream of becoming a millionaire, to build their dream houses, to have things that are difficult to have, and some dream of helping others and share happiness with them. Some of us dream of becoming a doctor, some dream of becoming successful businessmen, some people want to become teachers or artists. No matter what dream it is, we all want to achieve it. We just have to know and understand where and when to start. Everything starts with baby steps especially if the dream is something so hard to achieve. For aspiring pilots, becoming a pilot is difficult and complicated especially in financing the training and requirements. Another quite challenging thing is acquiring specific flight hours depending on what type of pilot you want to become or what aircraft you want to fly. But before stressing oneself about it, one must first focus on the first steps to achieving it, and one of these steps is asking yourself – WHY?
Capt. Mark Willy A. Brito, a line captain of Air Asia A320, shared his reasons, experiences, and advice during the webinar last January 18, 2021. He said that when he was younger, he was one of those kids who get excited while seeing a plane flying above houses and buildings. The excitement you feel while achieving your dreams must remain even after you’ve successfully achieved your goals. The excitement should still be there because that’s what makes a dream worth achieving, and proving that all hardships you went through were all worth it. It is important to plan out as early as possible because we never know what might happen in the future. It might be a serious step, but planning out serves as a guide and reminder that we have dreams to pursue. Dreams that we need to be prepared and at the same time be excited about.
Flying hours and financial stability are two of the challenging aspects of becoming a pilot. But, where or how do we start? Capt. Brito gave three choices to where you can start in pursuing your flying career. First off is by enrolling and studying in a Flying school, which is the basic and common way of starting with your career. Flying schools train aspiring pilots to pass, but they must be ready to finance the expensive cost of the training. The second option is the Airline Cadet Program. Airline Cadet Programs are free, but the competition is very tough. Only a few and the very best from the candidates get to be chosen and will serve for several years in the airline to end your contract. Lastly, you can start your flying career through the Air Force. It is also free, but you have to serve for 20 years before you can retire and proceed to your airline career. These choices have their advantages, but they have disadvantages as well, and it is up to us to what path we will choose.
The next one is how you will be able to acquire or build up flying hours. There are two ways: either you choose to become a Flight school instructor or work for General Aviation flights. Flying hours are a must because it serves as your flying experience and reliability that you are a skilled pilot. If you choose to become a flight instructor, you can acquire flying hours with your students, but if you choose General Aviation, you can also gain flying hours working as a cargo pilot or even piloting spray planes. Gaining flying hours is a must especially if you’re planning to apply in an airline company.
Being a pilot is one of the most satisfying dreams if you can achieve it, but we must remember that great things require sacrifices. Being a pilot requires a majority of your time and focus, hence no holidays. Especially during holidays because it’s the peak of vacations and the majority of flights. You also have to sacrifice some of your family time due to work. Another thing is that you have to stay healthy no matter what. All vices must be stopped and pilots must take good care of their eyes because it’s the most crucial thing that is needed while flying – good eyesight. Though the eyes can be corrected or you can be recommended with corrective lenses, you will only be limited to operations based on the capabilities of your eyesight. The next thing that makes this career hard is that the training is tough and you need a lot of courage and a strong determination to go through all training needed. You must be ready to overcome any mistake, obstacle, or challenges that may occur, and learn from them. Experience is the best way of learning important things. Don’t settle on the knowledge that you already know, try to learn and discover things through experiences. Everything we learned in books and lectures is much better once we’ve tried them ourselves, and discover more things that can rarely or impossible to be found in books.
This career path may be hard and challenging, but it is up to you if whether you choose to pursue, or if you let your dreams just be dreams. Dreaming and working hard for something is exciting, but it is a lot satisfying if you choose to push through and achieve all your dreams. It’ll take time and it’ll make you think twice about continuing, but if you love and have passion for what you dream, then never give up, never falter, and believe that you can. For now, do everything you can to achieve your goals. Study, learn, pass, and graduate. Take every step needed to reach that goal. Little by little pursue it with determination and faith. Nothing will happen if you choose to let everything slip away and give up. Nothing will happen if you don’t work on it. If you want to become a pilot, then you will. Don’t just dream it, become one in the future and live the dream you’ve always had.
“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela