From Flight Attendant to Pilot

At Charters Sixth Form, we believe there is no limit to what our students can achieve.

From the classroom to the skies, our former student Jasmine is a perfect example of how determination, ambition and the confidence developed during her time at our Outstanding Sixth Form can help turn a dream into a reality.

Inspired by aviation from a young age, she’s now reached an incredible milestone – completing her first solo flight during pilot training.

We spoke to Jasmine recently about her post-18 pathway and her fantastic transition from flight attendant to pilot. You can read the interview below:

What first inspired you to pursue a career in aviation, and when did you realise becoming a pilot was your ultimate goal?

My inspiration into a career within aviation came from my mum, she is currently cabin crew for British Airways, and has been for the past 37 years. So I've grown up around it constantly, I actually decided to pursue the career when I was 17 years old and that's when I started looking to it seriously, initially looking into Air Traffic Control and then later seeing the career of 'pilot' which just really took my interest.

How did your experience at Sixth Form help prepare you for working as cabin crew and now training as a pilot?

I would say sixth form helped me with my independence skills; from the way the classes were structured to finding out about the career path I wanted to take

What has been the biggest challenge in your journey so far, and how did you overcome it?

The biggest challenge I have had since starting at a flying school has got to be ground school. For the integrated course I am doing ground school is 6 months long and covers 13 different subjects with 13 exams to pass with a 75% minimum pass mark. As someone who isn't the most academic I definitely struggled with the workload and pace of lessons and also being in a class with highly academic people with whom I was comparing myself with regularly. The ways I overcame these issues was; constant revision, long days and nights and thousands of practise questions per subject to try and stay on top of the work and to understand the topics. I would also purposely not ask my classmates how they were doing because I was struggling with comparing myself to them so I found it easiest to not ask and to focus on myself.

Can you share a memorable moment from your training or time working in the air that confirmed you were on the right path?

A moment I had where I knew I wanted to become a pilot was when I become cabin crew for Virgin Atlantic and I sat in the flight Deck for take off out of New York. Talking to the pilots about their career and seeing first hand the workload made me so excited for my future career. Speaking to my cabin manager at the time and she said she couldn't wait for the day I would be the first officer on her flight made me feel so supported by my colleagues, and to see how excited they all were because I am a women going into this field, just made me think 'yes this is absolutely where I need to be' 

What advice would you give to current students who may be considering an unconventional career path or dreaming of working in aviation?

My best advice for any students wanting a career in aviation (more specifically cabin crew or pilot) would be; its definitely going to be testing and hard, and you will find yourself asking 'why am I doing this to myself' but once you get through the really tough exams and studying the flying is truly the best bit and you will meet some of the loveliest crew in the job. The other thing I would say is really try not to compare yourself to others around you. I had a hard time with this during ground school however something I had to remember is that everyone has there own level of challenging and there own level of success, for me I was just trying to pass every exam and I was happy with anything over 75%. For others they wanted 90% as a minimum. That doesn't make me any less intelligent; but everyone will want something different and so really try to not let it get you down when others get 90% average, for example. 

What’s the best view you’ve ever seen from an aircraft window?

The best view I have seen from actually the Flight Deck are the two photos I have attached. The first one was taking off from Heathrow at night and it was amazing to see the cockpit all lit up. The second photo I have attached is take off out of JFK and the view of New York as we departed, it was so cold you can see all the white of snow on the ground. New York was one of my regular trips, and I fell in love with it!