Year 12 graduate Thomas Roots, 17, is on cloud nine.
He got his driver’s licence five months ago and is now one step closer to getting his private pilot’s license.
The teenager has completed his first solo flight in a Cessna 172 aircraft.
“I felt a bit shaky before I set off,” Thomas said.
“When you are solo it is entirely up to you. You have complete freedom.
“After the flight I called my mum and all I could hear was screaming. She was over the moon.”
Sheldon College graduate Thomas has been studying for his private pilot licence since Year 11 through the school’s Aviation and Space Academy, a partner of the Australian Wings Academy.
“I am one of the youngest students in my aviation class at the Aviation Wings Academy and have received my epaulettes (shoulder badges to indicate his first solo flight) at 17 years. I only got my car driver's licence five months ago,” he said.
Thomas does not hail from a family of pilots but said flying had always fascinated him.
“My family emigrated from the United Kingdom when I was about four years old and I put down the fascination to having gone into a cockpit on the Emirates flight over here,” he recalled.
“The pilots on the flight allowed me to come forward and switch on lights on the consoles and that was it.”
Thomas said when he discovered Sheldon’s aviation program he knew it was something he had to take advantage of.
“My instructors said they wished they could have had the opportunity to learn aviation when they were at school,” he said.
“Mathematics has definitely helped me in my piloting, including the ability to perform mental maths, such as to calculate fuel burn during flights.
“You also learn to be confident in what to do in an emergency. Passengers expect a pilot to be there to help no matter what the conditions.”
Thomas needs to complete a number of solo flying hours before he will be licensed as a private pilot.
He intends to continue his studies full-time at the Aviation Wings Academy on the Gold Coast.
His primary goal is to finish his commercial aviation course, a Diploma of Aviation (Commercial Pilot Licence – Aeroplane), before the end of 2019.
“I then hope to fly internationally for a large airline,” he said.
