For Navya Pottumutu, the rush of flying is a feeling like no other.
Her first experience flying a glider plane came when she was just 12 years old as part of a cadet program in Nanaimo. While Pottumutu admits she was scared out of her mind thinking of an aircraft without an engine, once she was up in the air, that feeling of nervousness vanished.
It was just her and the pilot, who let her take control of the aircraft for about four minutes.
“I was thinking ‘I got to fly a plane by myself.’ It was a really cool experience,” Pottumutu said. “You’re in a totally different world. You’re not attached to anything and you’re free.”
It’s a feeling the Grade 10 Belmont Secondary student will be able to continue this summer after being accepted to the glider pilot scholarship. As part of the course, Pottumutu will travel to Comox in July, where she’ll learn how to fly a glider plane. If all goes according to plan, she’ll have her licence by the end of the summer and will be one step closer to becoming a commercial pilot or astronaut.
Pottumutu isn’t the only one with dreams of flying. Four other cadets from the West Shore have also been accepted to various aviation and army courses taking place this summer.
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Grade 10 Belmont student Jacob Thompson hopes to follow in Pottumutu’s footsteps, as one of seven cadets from B.C. selected to take part in the advanced aviation technology course in Ontario. There he’ll learn about airport operations and get a behind-the-scenes look at flying, including air traffic control, weather, marshalling and navigating. In the end, he’ll learn how to taxi a plane.
“I don’t know if I can wait the three months until I get to go,” said Thompson, who wants to become a military pilot. “I’m really excited, I can’t wait.”
Fourteen-year-old Gabriel Golchin will start the basic aviation technology and aerospace course in the summer, where he’ll learn the theoretical and hands-on side of flying, including how the Victoria aviation industry works.
After taking his first plane ride at the age of three, he quickly fell in love with flying. The sea-turned-air cadet hopes to get his glider pilot licence with the hopes of one day becoming a pilot with Air Canada and flying a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.
“It’s a fun thing to do,” Golchin said. “I love that feeling. It’s like you’re floating in space.”
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Grade 12 Royal Bay student Samuel Staples has also been accepted to the glider pilot scholarship course.
Local cadets will represent Vancouver Island overseas as well.
Army cadet Jeffery Corney is also one of seven from B.C. who will travel to Ottawa, Wales and France to take part in the Maple Leaf Exchange. As part of that program, the Grade 11 student will take part in exercises with British cadets, visit museums and Vimy Ridge over a six-week period. The Grade 11 student hopes his experience will encourage others to join cadets.
Mandart Chan, a teacher at Belmont and commanding officer of 848 Royal Roads Squadron, said there are a number of benefits to the cadets’ aviation programs.
“It gives them real life experience at a young age of what their careers could look like and it gives them the leg up in networking,” said Chan, adding a number of his friends who were once in the cadets program have since gone on to become commercial pilots or pilots in the Armed Forces. “It really gives them a great introduction to being a pilot and the best part is … it’s free.”
The army, air and sea cadet programs are open to all youth between the ages of 12 and 18. For more information visit cadets.ca.
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kendra.wong@goldstream