Curiosity has propelled one student to learn how to fly and pursue his passion
Yatlong strapped himself into the cockpit of a small Cessna airplane. His flying instructor completed the safety check. All set for takeoff.
Taxiing to the runway, Yatlong felt exhilaration—and fear—for his first flying lesson.
“I thought, ‘Wait a second. How many flying hours does this instructor have? He won’t put me in danger, right? I don’t know him at all. Should I be worried?’” says Yat Long, smirking at his own inner dialogue.
Taking a risk and finding his way
“We got into the air. About 15 minutes in, the instructor passed me the controls.”
“I was flying…doing something brand new to me…seeing the ground and sky from a different perspective,” says Yatlong, a Grade 12 international student at London Christian High (LCH). “I overcame my fear even before we landed the plane.”
That moment affirmed his dream to become an airline pilot, a love birthed from unexpected circumstances. For personal reasons, he left LCH during the second semester of Grade 10. His aunt came from the U.K. to help him out, and she invited him to go home with her.
Yatlong did. He then tagged along with her on trips to the Netherlands, Italy, Australia and Hong Kong. Those travels got him hooked.
Passion fueled learning
“Flying is not magic. It’s about physics and science.”
“I’ve always wanted to understand how things work, how machines operate,” he says. “Knowing the concepts behind the science makes me excited to fly…and less nervous!”
His passion for aviation has filtered into his schoolwork. For one course, Yatlong developed a seminar to help pilots address fatigue. “When first trained, pilots receive 20 minutes of education about fatigue,” he says, “which is not enough time, and explains why it’s an ongoing issue in the aviation industry.”
ESL to UofW
As he heads to the University of Waterloo, Yatlong gratefully reflects on God and his teachers.
“In my first months at LCH, I understood about 30 per cent of what teachers said but they patiently worked with me,” he explains. “They shared a Christian perspective to every subject, which helped me think critically about what God is calling me to be and do.”
“The first time taking the school bus, I saw parents dropping off their kids and saying goodbye to them. I teared up and missed that for myself because my parents live a 15-hour flight away. I talk to them every day but sometimes it hits me that they are not here to see what I’ve achieved.”
