Why I fell in love with flying and how my passion developed

Hook #1. The Sophisticated Appearance:

Flashback to when I was 8. Watching our neighbor pilot in his elegant pilot suit, shiny stripes, sophisticated wing, and professional pilot cap. Holding his fancy navigation bag and in the other hand his layover luggage. Standing straight, looking smart, decent and professional, waiting for the airline bus to pick him up for a flight. While I’m wondering, where is he flying to today ?! How fun, complex and sophisticated is it to be the commander of that big airship? , how Amazing is it to be in a different country every couple of days!

Hook #2. The Excitement:

We used to live next to the airport since I was 6, less than 5 km far. Jumping off my chair every time I hear a plane on its final approach. Running to the balcony to watch this huge, marvelous machine flying up there and thinking. One day I want to be there in the cockpit, in that elegant and professional uniform. Feel the power of jet thrust during takeoff & put this beauty smoothly on the ground. Hearing the passengers in the cabin cheering and talking about my perfect landing.

Hook #3. The Abnormality:

I have always been thinking I don’t want to be that routine driven employee. Waking up every day at the same time, going to the same office, doing the same thing I do every day, seeing the same people and go back home at 5! I wanted to travel the world, fly every day to a different city. Get a big salary, impress everyone when I tell them I’m a pilot. And what is better than a 30,000+ feet high office with a view on the open skies & clouds?

Curiosity:

I always kept searching for anything related to aviation, pictures, videos or any piece of information that was interesting for me. When I was 15, I found this amazing Microsoft flight simulator. I was super happy and impressed I can get some of that feeling of piloting airplanes, and kept watching videos and tutorials, taking it to the next levels of simulation with professional editions of planes, I used to fly the Boeing 737, a beautiful and sophisticated airplane, I used to look at it like if I’m looking at my girlfriend, with dreamy and staring eyes.

I didn’t stop there, I took my simulation and passion to a whole other level, Online flying, with other enthusiasts who join as air traffic controllers ( VATSIM & IVAO ), applying as much as we can of the real-life flying rules and regulations, it was so serious and realistic that no one is ever allowed to call it a game, it’s a Flight Simulator. It’s a huge community of aviation enthusiasts who take it very seriously, most of them have a lot of impressive & detailed technical information and knowledge about aviation that some real-life pilots may not have! It’s really interesting and fun being in that community. We used to fly all the time, group long-haul flights, world tour flights or even just some VFR group flying in a Cessna 172!

Growing Passion:

I remember putting all my savings to buy a flight yoke ( a joystick for planes ), doing my best to make it as realistic as I could, challenging my self to make the smoothest landing ever. It took a lot of my time, added a lot of knowledge, information, and experience, increased my passion even more for this amazing job and definitely made me insist more on becoming a pilot. I met and made a lot of friends from this amazing community who I still have until this day.

When I was 16, a friend of mine from the enthusiasts’ community offered me a visit to the Control Tower of the main International Airport in our city! I was super amazed by the view & atmosphere in the control tower, having a close look at everything, feeling I’m in the middle of it, watching air traffic controllers working, giving instructions to pilots & pilots reading back & complying, seeing planes around the airport taxiing, taking off or landing. That was the closest I have ever been to the action!

Whenever I was traveling with my family, I was super excited only about the flight part. From the moment we arrive at the airport, seeing planes of different sizes and shapes lined up on the gates, taxiing, taking off & landing, wondering which one will we board, where is each of them coming from? or flying to? Finally boarding the plane trying to sneak a peak on the cockpit while the door is open, wondering how the pilots can memorize all those switches and buttons.

Trying to understand whats going on in every phase of the flight, explaining to my family and telling them every piece of information I know about what’s going on, guessing what the ATC is saying and how the pilots reply. I’ve always loved the sound of the full power during takeoff and the feeling during liftoff. Amazed by the looks full of respect and appreciation that pilots get from the passengers. Looking at them as if they’re superheroes. wishing I’ll be in their place one day.

Call to Action:

In high school, I decided that’s what I really want to be, an airline pilot. So I started searching for how to become an airline pilot until I found a flight school in my city. I made some market research & found that our flag carrier has ordered new aircrafts and will hire pilots within the next 3 years. So I opened a discussion with my parents about it ( which usually ended up with a complete refusal at the beginning ). I Did my best to convince them because I was 100% sure this is what I want.

Eventually, I convinced my parents and joined the flight school. I was so keen to study hard and ace it. All the time I spent searching for information and knowledge, flying on flight simulator with VATSIM, has finally paid off. I have never imagined that flight simulator can help me that much during my pilot training but it did!.

A year later I finished flight school and got my Commercial Pilot License ( CPL ). Finally, I’m a pilot, but still, one harder step to go, getting hired.

A Dream came true:

I finished my license and all I had to do was just wait for our flag carrier airline to post a job opening for pilots, but I was scared it would take a long time, so I made a list of all the airlines and charters in my country even the helicopter operators. I printed resumes and started going in-person to each and every one of them, leaving my resume. Dissapointly, I never got any reply.

After one year of fearful waiting, our flag carrier finally posted a job opening for pilots, despite all the hassle and struggle I had to even apply for the job opening, I got hired as a first officer on the Boeing 737.

My dream came true, finally, I’m an airline pilot!

Originally published at https://the-rebellious.com on April 11, 2020.