Pilot Rui
My story started many years ago. Born in São Vicente Cabo Verde and when I was five years old we moved to Sweden. We did that because my parents wanted to give us three kids a better future in terms of education. Since then, as a young boy I dreamt about flying objects. This dream grew into a strong passion and I couldn’t see myself doing anything else other than piloting an aircraft. I was hooked for life.
At the age of 23, I started my pilot training at Svensk Pilotutbildning in Sweden and graduated 2005. The hardest part of my training I must say was my ATPL exams, specifically meteorology. I really struggled from the beginning, because me and my classmates were the first students at that point to undertake JAR exams.
I failed my first and second take on the meteorology exam. It was at that point I started to think that I would never get the ATPL. However, I got a grip of myself and studied even harder. I was so motivated and put in maximum effort to gather all information regarding that subject. At my final and last attempt I passed.
Today 2020 I’m an experienced airline captain with over 14 years experience within the aviation industry. I love my job! I see it as a lifestyle and I hope I will keep fit so that I can continue my passion. Not sure what could happen long-term but maybe long haul operations, but who knows what the future brings.
My advice to my younger self and aspiring pilots is to start to prepare themselves early. Stay prepared at all times. Prepare yourself before you do your initial assessment, before your flight training with your instructor, when you take your exams etc. You prior preparation will reflect that you are motivated, focused, eager to learn, and it will make things a lot easier. Preparation is key to any industry, when I spoke about my ATPL Meteorology exam being more prepared would have led to me passing the exam even earlier than I intended.
Pilor Rui has amassed a large social media following. Check out his great content. He also has his own website so be sure to visit it!
Instagram: PilotRuiLopes
Website: PilotRuiLopes.com