Kent Messenger Maidstone

Sky’s the limit as Anna sets sights on solo flight

- By Guy Bell gbell@thekmgroup.co.uk @gbellKM

A schoolgirl is set to take to the skies and become the country’s youngest solo pilot one year before she is legally allowed to drive.

Anna Moscicki, 15, is aiming high with aspiration­s of becoming an airline pilot as she takes flying lessons alongside her studies for her GCSE exams.

The Hillview School pupil, from Staplehurs­t, fell in love with flying on her 14th birthday and has used inheritanc­e money to fund her passion.

Her father James revealed she was due to have her first taste of taking off on her 13th birthday before being disappoint­ed by the typically bad British weather.

The 41-year-old, of Headcorn Road, said: “In the end she went up for her 14th birthday and she absolutely adored it. She had some money from a grandparen­t and wanted to use it in the best way possible.”

Anna, who will fly solo when she turns 16 on May 27, has recently been offered a place at Cranbrook Girls School and her father has said she is managing to juggle schoolwork and flying successful­ly.

James, a marketing director, said: “She wants to go down the commercial route. She has an aptitude for it. Anna has a plan for it all already and she has a strategy in place.

“She could do it with a direct route which would cost £160,000 but we don’t have that kind of money.

“Once she has done her A-levels, Anna has said she is going to get a job and do modules individual­ly which would be much cheaper.”

Anna has found time to revise for her exams in between flying sessions and is on course to achieve grade B and above in all subjects.

Her father and mother, Julie, regularly take her to Headcorn Aerodrome for lessons and are incredibly proud of their determined daughter.

James added: “She really is doing a good job and she has said if she doesn’t make it flying commercial­ly then she would get her licence to do holiday trips for people in Thailand or the Caribbean.”

 ?? Picture: Andy Payton FM4778963 Buy pictures from kentonline.co.uk ?? Anna Moscicki, 15, is hoping she will be able to make her first solo flight on the day of her 16th birthday
Picture: Andy Payton FM4778963 Buy pictures from kentonline.co.uk Anna Moscicki, 15, is hoping she will be able to make her first solo flight on the day of her 16th birthday

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