“My name is Louie Stace and I am 18 years old from Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire. I was awarded a 5 hour scholarship, with the aim to go solo, from the Air League to take place at South Warwickshire Flying School.Before the start of my Scholarship, I had 6 hours in a PA-28 warrior and had completed an Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) during my A-levels which was based on Aircraft Safety. With a lot of research and information retained from the air cadets, I was able to complete this before my interview with the Air League. This helped present my knowledge and passion for aviation, since there was very few A-level choices which would’ve helped showcase this. This gave me the giant motivation boost to apply for the Air League scholarships, since I had such fun creating and presenting my project.I am desperate to have a career in the aviation industry. To have ‘my office’ 37,000 feet in the air is such an exhilarating thought. My end goal is to work in the commercial airline industry as a pilot. However, ATPL training can be costly, so I have been searching for other airline and airport jobs to gain an insight into what the industry is like upfront. I am trying to get as experience as I can, which will help show my commitment and dedication I have put towards achieving my end goal. Part of this amazing journey was applying to the Air League flying scholarships! Once I had applied, I eventually found out I was awarded with one of the Air League’s scholarships! I was thrilled that my PPL journey was finally being fired back into action after many infrequent flying lessons due to a lack of finance. I then selected South Warwickshire Flying School as my provider and was soon on my way. Once I had arrived, I met fellow scholars who were very approachable and friendly. I spent my time socialising with them, discussing which exercises we covered during our lessons and even teaching each other tips to do with flying. This was such a unique experience since I had very few people in my area who I could discuss this topic with, and I had found people who had the exact interests as I did.Groundschool was a very exciting aspect of this scholarship. The groundschool briefings helped me understand specific exercises and allowed me to ask questions to gain more understanding before the flight. With these detailed briefings, it assisted me in the lessons, since I could refer to the information I was taught for help. With the support of the very friendly instructors, my excitement was escalated even further to progress with my PPL journey!During my flying lessons, I covered: calculating the fuel quantity needed for an aircraft and actually fuelling it, ground checks, checklist memory steps, stalling, recovering from a stall spin, advanced turns, glide approaches, flap-less landings, circuits, radio communication, go arounds, rejected take offs, engine failures, and learning METARS all within 5 flying hours over 2 days! This was extremely beneficial for my training and made me feel like I was definitely capable of completing my licence. My instructor was ready to send me on my solo (fly a circuit on my own) by the end of the 5 hours, yet the weather had different plans for me. Unfortunately I was not able to go solo due to extreme wind. I was understanding since safety is a priority and I knew these were the kind of risks that could happen when choosing this career path. Yet, this did not demoralise me at all. My instructor said despite the weather, he was confident that I could go solo and could handle an emergency if it was thrown at me. This was greatly appreciated as it enlarged my confidence, compared to before my scholarship started.I was so gutted when this scholarship ended, because I had so much fun with my instructors, fellow scholars and club members. I felt like I was a member there for years rather than a couple of days because of how welcoming they were. They provided me with such supportive advice to perfect my flying and improve my knowledge. It was such a unique experience and I would definitely recommend aspiring pilots to apply for these scholarships since it would be a great benefit for your training journey. My next steps will be applying for careers in aviation, applying to more scholarships, and saving to gradually do my lessons in bulk to keep my memory fresh so I can complete my training with flying colours! I wish I could do it all over again. For that, I would like to thank the Air League, South Warwickshire Flying School, and my sponsor the Sir Michael Cobham Fund for making this possible.”
