The dream

The story of that little boy that tells everyone in primary school that he wants to become a pilot when he is all grown up. That guy was me, and it didn’t stop until I became one. (actually, as you could see I’m still talking about it)

I always wanted to become a pilot and I’ve never seemed to care what kind of aircraft. I looked up to everything flying around. If I heard a sound of an engine my head was up. There was a time that I could tell you the aircraft on the sound it made. I just knew: “One day I will become a pilot”

Starting at the beginning: My mom always told me that she always knew I wanted to become a pilot. I was playing with sand in the garden en could see the overflying planes. I haven’t focused on the sand anymore until that plane left my sight. As soon I started to talk I wasn’t able to stop talking about it. If we had to make a project in school it was about planes.

When I was about 7 years old my grandmother gave me a present. She gave me a ticket on a sightseeing flight on a DC3 the PH-DDA. This made such an impression on me you cannot imagine, might be the reason that the DC3 is one of my favorite aircraft. My grandmother took me almost every weekend to Schiphol just to see planes take off and land but that moment changed everything. I was hooked, I started playing flight simulator (flight simulator 95). Aviation and nothing else but Aviation. A few years later when it was still allowed to walk into the cockpit my grandmother took me on a trip to Paris and back to Amsterdam. I looked out the window and for me it was magical, all these buttons and man working and being proud of the job that they did.I finished my primary school with low grades, with this I couldn’t become a pilot at all (Beroeps Begeleidende Leerweg). Not even close. So in my first class of secondary school, I started to work and get my grades up so I could become a pilot. I did so well that they put me in a class where it would have been possible to become a pilot. Unfortunately, I couldn’t keep up in this class so they’ve put me in a lower level called TL. I’ve done this for 2 more years and knew I still wanted to become a pilot but with TL it wouldn’t be possible. While doing TL I had to do an internship and I did this at Martinair vliegschool as an aircraft mechanic. I couldn’t become a pilot with TL so I was looking for other options in aviation. As a part of the deal, I negotiated with the instructor that at the end of my internship I could join a flight with one of his students. I finished my internship where I learned a lot about single-engine piston aircraft and could finally join in the back of the aircraft for a flight in a Single engine piston aircraft. I loved it, I could make the decision to stop my studies at that moment and stay at that TL level, become a mechanic but I knew I wanted to become a pilot so that meant 2 more years of school to get a HAVO degree. A few days later my father took me for my first ever flight lesson at the same school where I did my internship. (video below) I think he did it as a motivator not to stop but to work hard and become a pilot. So I did. I went to a different secondary school and did 2 more years but the problem was that you needed physics and higher math, with the profile I’ve chosen that wasn’t included so I did 2 more subjects during these 2 years and finished my HAVO exams. With this, I could become a pilot if I would be hired by any flight school.

I went to several flight schools and got myself hired by the NLS. (more about this in the blog flight school) If I would graduate on this flight school it would mean I would be a pilot within 2 years.

With this, I want to show you that if your heart is there and you are willing to work for it, you can make it. No matter what your dream is!

More about these years in flight school will follow soon. If you don’t want to miss it, make sure to subscribe to my website.

 

 

 

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