This is your captain speaking – I’m only 18!
MOST 18-year-olds are battling to master mirror, signal, manoeuvre.
Seth Van Beek aimed higher – and has now become the UK’s youngest qualified commercial airline pilot.
The remarkable achievement is thanks to his mother, who sold the family home to help fund his dreams.
The teenager received his licence to fly passenger planes in October after completing nearly 18 months of training. He had to move to Greece to take his £85,000 flight school course, completing 150 hours in the air before passing with flying colours.
He is now looking for a job, and hopes to fly for British Airways one day.
Seth, from north-west London, had set his sights on being a pilot since the age of eight.
‘My mum was an avid traveller when she was younger, and when I was a boy she’d take us on holidays to see the world,’ he said.
‘I loved everything about flying... I’ve always felt safer in a plane than travelling on a bus or driving a car – though I do have a driver’s licence!’
Seth left school at 16 after doing his GCSEs and managed to pass the gruelling entrance exams to attended Egnatia Aviation Training College in Greece. In April 2018, he began 18 months’ training at the academy. He sat 14 exams, alternating between learning theory and practical flying at Greece’s Kavala International Airport.
The teenager would take to the skies up to five times a week during his practical stints, initially for just 60 minutes, but eventually flying for five hours. He graduated in September at the top of his class, getting his licence from the European Aviation Safety Agency a month later.
His mother Frances, 42, sold their three-bedroom home in Milton Keynes and downsized to a flat to free up £85,000 for his course and accommodation fees. Seth said: ‘I wanted to be top of my class, so that I could show her that it was worth everything.’
Miss Van Beek, originally from Zimbabwe, said: ‘I didn’t have a proper education, so I have always pushed Seth to make sure he accomplishes what he really wants.’
Should he achieve his dream of working for BA, he should be able to repay his mother’s generosity. Some captains with the airline earn upwards of £200,000 a year.