MidReal Story
My life s journey from being a Pilot to an
Scenario: My life's journey from being a Pilot to an AI Strategist. I flew to Toronto, Ontario in 1995 to pursue my flying career. Got trained, certified and became a Commercial Pilot with an IFR rating by 1999. Started building my time towards my Career. Like to go through a few of my times in life in Canada on how I managed to live and study there. The jobs I undertook as a student. The hardships I faced out there. And a few funny incidents which taught me a lot in life. Unfortunately in 2001 , we had the 9/11 incident which brought down the twin towers in NY and the aviation industry slumped to an all time low with a huge vaccum with lots of Pilots on the ground for about a period of 6 - 8 years. And that's when I changed my career from being a Pilot to pursuing it towards the IS/IT field. Got certified and went that way. During all this time there are many incidents that come to mind which are very hillarious as well.
Create my version of this story
My first landing in Toronto was nothing less than a disaster.
It was during my pilot training at the Canadian Flight Academy in 1995, and something I still remember very vividly.
I had landed almost 1000 feet past the touchdown zone of runway 33L, and the flight instructor actually looked at me and said, “You call that a landing?
It was as if I had just stolen his car.
Not to worry, though, it got better and I went on to continue my training and eventually get my pilot’s license.
My journey to Toronto started in Mumbai, India, where I was born and raised.
I came to Canada with a dream; a dream to become a pilot.
A dream to fly.
My journey to Toronto itself was quite long.
I left Mumbai at 1:00 AM and arrived in Toronto at 1:00 PM the same day, which was around 11:30 PM in Mumbai.
By the time I got to my dorm room, I had been travelling for over 24 hours.
I have never been a good sleeper, but this was something else.
Before coming to Canada, I had never been outside of India.
I was really not sure what to expect; all I knew was that there were going to be a lot fewer people than in Mumbai.
The population of India is around 1.4 billion people, compared to Canada’s population of just over 37 million.
So, there was that.
The day after my arrival, I went for a walk around the campus of the Canadian Flight Academy, which is located at the Oshawa Airport in Oshawa, Ontario.
As I walked down the runway, it was so quiet and peaceful.
It was so different from what I was used to in Mumbai; it was almost like a ghost town.
It would take me some time to get used to this new environment, but I was determined to make it work.
It took me about a year of training to become a private pilot (PPL) with an instrument flight rating (IFR).
Becoming a PPL gives you the right to fly private aircraft within visual flight rules (VFR), which means you need to be able to see where you are going (usually).
An IFR rating means you can fly in the clouds, and therefore without visual reference to the ground.
After getting my PPL, I became a student pilot again to get my commercial flight training and eventually upgrade my license to a commercial pilot’s license.
This process involves a lot of hours of flying and training, not to mention the cost that goes along with it.
Becoming a commercial pilot is not just about getting a license; it is also about building hours and experience that will be required should you want to work for an airline or a charter company.
During this time, I learned something.
Flying is not just about learning to control an aircraft, but it is also about adopting a new lifestyle.
You have to change your sleeping habits, your eating habits, and your overall health habits.
This is important because you are only allowed to fly when you are healthy and fit to do so.
No one wants an unhealthy or tired person flying an aircraft.
When you become a pilot, it becomes more than just a job or career choice.
It becomes a part of you, and it is something that never really leaves you.
I continued forward with my training and progressed well.
I got my commercial pilot’s license, and this allowed me to get paid as a pilot.
I also got my IFR rating in 1999, which meant I could now fly in the clouds.
This was a big deal, because it was the first step to making a career out of flying.
Becoming a commercial pilot is different than being a private pilot because you have to learn the decision-making skills necessary to handle real-world weather scenarios and situations.
It is not just about flying an aircraft, but also having the ability to make the decisions that will get everyone safely from point A to point B, and everywhere in between.
After getting my commercial license, I started logging more hours as a pilot, which is the most important thing when it comes to building experience.
The more hours you have as a pilot, the more companies will want to hire you, because it shows that you are more experienced and more likely to make the right decisions when it matters most.
The next step for me was to get hired as a co-pilot so that I could build even more hours and experience, and eventually become a captain.
Becoming a co-pilot was not so easy, however, because there were many other pilots looking for work at the same time as me and there were not enough jobs for all of us.
At this time, in the early 2000s, there were many pilots who were looking for work after the September 11 attacks caused airlines around the world to cut flights and lay off employees.
This made it difficult for new pilots like me to get a job at an airline, which is typically where most pilots want to work so they can build hours quickly and eventually become captains of large commercial jets.
Since there were very few jobs available at airlines, I had no choice but to look elsewhere for work, which was not ideal but necessary in order to continue building my hours and moving forward in my aviation career.
I applied to many different companies that were looking for pilots, and after many rejections, I was finally able to secure a position as a co-pilot with a company in Toronto that flew small cargo planes throughout Canada and parts of the United States.
This was a good opportunity for me to build hours and experience, and I was happy to finally have a job as a co-pilot after working so hard for so long.
It was a tough time for new pilots in Canada, but I was determined to make it work and continue moving forward in my career, no matter what obstacles came my way.
Flying is something I have always loved, and being up in the sky is an amazing feeling that never gets old for me, even after all these years of being a pilot.
When you are up in the air, you feel free and in control, and there is nothing quite like it in the world.
It is something that very few people will ever have the opportunity to do, and I feel lucky that I have been able to make a career out of it.
As I progressed through my aviation journey, I never lost my passion for flying and my dream of one day becoming a captain of an aircraft.
