Pilot Tanishq

I was born in Bombay, India to a family that didn't have any pilots or anyone in aviation for that matter. But my dad had got a job in the middle east in the 90s so we moved there with him and that was the first taste of aviation I had at age 2, in an Oman air aircraft from Mumbai to Muscat. 

A couple years later when I turned 10 we moved to Doha, Qatar and that was the first time I flew in a wide body aircraft and that was it for me. Hearing the engines take off at full power and lift off over the ground made me feel something I couldn't really describe but It was then that very feeling that decided that I wanted to be a pilot when I grew up and I did whatever I had to, to make the dream a reality.

I wanted to start flight school as soon as I was done with high school but my parents had one condition,  that I complete my engineering first so I have that always as a back up and then they would help me fulfill my dream. So cut to 2012 I sat on a plane and moved back to India to pursue aerospace engineering. Four years later I graduated with honors and my parents were more than happy to support me with my decision of starting flight school. 

I joined Jetstream aviation academy in Athens, Greece and worked towards my integrated Airline transport pilot license. I successfully passed my MEP/IR and PBN skill tests just few days ago and now I'm looking for opportunities to showcase my skills. 

Every dream comes with it's own set of challenges and struggles. Mine was no less. Moving away from family, living alone in a foreign country and having to manage everything by yourself can be daunting sometimes. But the biggest challenge I faced was COVID. I had just a few hours to go before the skill test when the lockdown happened and everything came to a standstill. At one point I really wondered if I would be able to finish my course or not. But then I took a look at my own journey and saw how far I've come and got motivated to push through. 

I keep telling myself this 'don't look around for inspiration, you are your own inspiration'. That has helped me pass many exams and the skill test in the end. 

Like any pilot, a wide body is the dream. In ten years my dream is to fly the Airbus A350. But for now I'm going to focus on the small things like being able to sustain and survive during the pandemic with any job, aviation related or not. One must be flexible in today's time and that's the only important quality a pilot needs to have with the current situation. I hope blues skies and better days in aviation for all of us.