This is your captain speaking – I’m only 18!
MOST 18-year-olds are battling to master mirror, signal, manoeuvre.
But 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 nearly 18 months of training. He moved 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 set his sights on being a pilot at the age of eight. He said: ‘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. 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 sitting his GCSEs and managed to pass the gruelling entrance exams to attended Egnatia Aviation Training College in Greece.
There he learnt theory and experienced practical flying up to five times a week at Greece’s Kavala International Airport.
His mother Frances, 42, sold their three-bedroom home in Milton Keynes and downsized to a flat to fund his course and accommodation.
The teenager graduated in September at the top of his class, getting his licence from the European Aviation Safety Agency a month later. He said: ‘I wanted to be top of my class, so that I could show her that it was worth everything.’
If he achieves his dream of working for BA, he should be able to repay his mother. Some captains with the airline earn more than £200,000 a year.