What I want to write about here is how my attitude has changed throughout my life and how it can help some of you think about whether or not you are ready to get into flying commercially.
Back when I was an infant I was tough to control. I remember being sent home and suspended from primary and secondary school on several occasions. I was very easily distracted, and when I was in secondary school I had a big problem fitting into a particular friends circle. I wasn't the best at talking to others and I had a massive problem with self-esteem at the time. As I mentioned before, my GCSE and A-level grades were rubbish and I'm pretty sure that my parents were thinking about giving up on me.
As I grew up, my parents were pretty strict on me, my father in particular. They had come from very tough beginnings. There was even a point in their childhood where they couldn't even afford shoes, and my father had lost his parents when he was very young, so they had to grow up much faster than I did. This meant that they always had something to say about me, and naturally I was a bit of a handful. Sorry mum and dad!
The start of University was when things started changing for the better. I chose Kingston University in particular because I really enjoyed the mix of different backgrounds. I said to myself that I would try to hang out with as many people as possible. I ended up meeting a wide variety of people, most of whom were absolutely amazing and 10 years on, many of them are still my best friends today, and it's an experience that greatly changed my behaviour in different social situations. This was also the point where my attitude changed with my studying, I suddenly started to knuckle down and get a lot of work done. This was a stark contrast to how I was several years before!
When I became more independent and started dealing with problems on my own I suddenly realised that there was no short cut to life. I started to realise why my parents were strict on me and realise how fortunate I was to even have the privilege of higher education. The problem was that I couldn't accept that you needed to work hard to be successful. I wanted things there and then, I didn't want to drive from A to B using the roads, I wanted to plow through the buildings and people. Now of course, this doesn't apply to everyone, it wasn't like everyone else in school did as bad as I did, the majority in fact got very good grades and went to good Universities. Everyone is different, and some people (like me) do take longer to mature.
After graduating from Kingston, I went onto work at XPI Simulation for just over five years as a 3D Modeller. This really helped me in terms of working and behaving in a professional environment. All of the work here was project based and at times involved a lot of pressure with deadlines, so naturally I learned how to keep calm and get the task done whilst at the same time, keeping things smooth with my colleagues.
When I went for my skills assessment at Oxford Aviation Academy, I realised that had I tried to do between the age of 18 to about 22, I would have failed it miserably, and they probably would have told me to to wake up and stop dreaming.
At this stage I can't give a 100% guarantee that I'll make it through training and get a job (though I will stay optimistic) What I can say though is if you are indeed thinking about making a big move and taking a risk of going into flight school to seriously consider not only your collateral, but how you are as a person. For me, I knew the time was right, not only because I had saved a sufficient amount of money, but also because I felt that I had finally gone through enough of my own challenges to make me responsible and wise enough.
I will probably want to change most of what I've written here as I progress through my training since my experiences are always changing. What I can confidently say now though is that ground school requires serious discipline (read my blog post on Ground School) It is not something you can approach if you simply have the passion, you need to also responsible for your own actions and be incredibly disciplined. The training is relentless, and you need to be not only up to the task, but also demonstrate the ability to deal with the stress effectively and set your priorities properly. This is particularly important when you begin your actual flying and even more important when you start flying with passengers.
Be consciously aware of your mistakes, and don't be ashamed to admit them. Self-improvement doesn't just apply in Aviation, it applies in all aspects of life, and this is how I made it onto this journey that I'm currently embarking on.
Back when I was an infant I was tough to control. I remember being sent home and suspended from primary and secondary school on several occasions. I was very easily distracted, and when I was in secondary school I had a big problem fitting into a particular friends circle. I wasn't the best at talking to others and I had a massive problem with self-esteem at the time. As I mentioned before, my GCSE and A-level grades were rubbish and I'm pretty sure that my parents were thinking about giving up on me.
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| This was me for about 15 years |
The start of University was when things started changing for the better. I chose Kingston University in particular because I really enjoyed the mix of different backgrounds. I said to myself that I would try to hang out with as many people as possible. I ended up meeting a wide variety of people, most of whom were absolutely amazing and 10 years on, many of them are still my best friends today, and it's an experience that greatly changed my behaviour in different social situations. This was also the point where my attitude changed with my studying, I suddenly started to knuckle down and get a lot of work done. This was a stark contrast to how I was several years before!
When I became more independent and started dealing with problems on my own I suddenly realised that there was no short cut to life. I started to realise why my parents were strict on me and realise how fortunate I was to even have the privilege of higher education. The problem was that I couldn't accept that you needed to work hard to be successful. I wanted things there and then, I didn't want to drive from A to B using the roads, I wanted to plow through the buildings and people. Now of course, this doesn't apply to everyone, it wasn't like everyone else in school did as bad as I did, the majority in fact got very good grades and went to good Universities. Everyone is different, and some people (like me) do take longer to mature.
After graduating from Kingston, I went onto work at XPI Simulation for just over five years as a 3D Modeller. This really helped me in terms of working and behaving in a professional environment. All of the work here was project based and at times involved a lot of pressure with deadlines, so naturally I learned how to keep calm and get the task done whilst at the same time, keeping things smooth with my colleagues.
When I went for my skills assessment at Oxford Aviation Academy, I realised that had I tried to do between the age of 18 to about 22, I would have failed it miserably, and they probably would have told me to to wake up and stop dreaming.
At this stage I can't give a 100% guarantee that I'll make it through training and get a job (though I will stay optimistic) What I can say though is if you are indeed thinking about making a big move and taking a risk of going into flight school to seriously consider not only your collateral, but how you are as a person. For me, I knew the time was right, not only because I had saved a sufficient amount of money, but also because I felt that I had finally gone through enough of my own challenges to make me responsible and wise enough.
 |
| This is how I see myself in a couple of years... |
I will probably want to change most of what I've written here as I progress through my training since my experiences are always changing. What I can confidently say now though is that ground school requires serious discipline (read my blog post on Ground School) It is not something you can approach if you simply have the passion, you need to also responsible for your own actions and be incredibly disciplined. The training is relentless, and you need to be not only up to the task, but also demonstrate the ability to deal with the stress effectively and set your priorities properly. This is particularly important when you begin your actual flying and even more important when you start flying with passengers.
Be consciously aware of your mistakes, and don't be ashamed to admit them. Self-improvement doesn't just apply in Aviation, it applies in all aspects of life, and this is how I made it onto this journey that I'm currently embarking on.
