Becoming a pilot, after after giving up hope

Becoming a pilot has never crossed my mind.

Don't get me wrong - I wanted to! But as many of you can fully appreciate - the costs of becoming a pilot were absolutely out of my reach. I envied people who had a chance to do their PPL or any other license. I always understood how much time, knowledge and money it took to become a pilot.

Maybe this is why FPV and drones spoke to me in such a way. They allowed me to be "a pilot" and be on the sky... For the fraction of the price. And to be honest - I'd never thought that being a drone pilot will get me into becoming... A pilot...

Are you becoming a real deal pilot now?

Back in February 2022 I have moved to Australia to work for Airspeeder. This is something that most of you know me from, probably. And I knew that one day I will be jumping on board of the Airspeeder (this is actually how they made me make up my mind about the whole thing). It was something I have absolutely wanted to do, and I was extremely happy to be given such an opportunity. Gratefulness doesn’t cut it as a word, really. But… I haven’t thought it through.

Because… what does it mean to jump on board of an Airspeeder? What is is connected with? What licensing will I need? (IF ANY!) I’ll be honest - I didn’t think that far into the future.

Sometimes we do not see the things that are just in front of our faces. In this situation I seem to have completely overlooked the fact that to become an Airspeeder pilot… I will need to become a pilot. And yes, I have all the necessary licensing such as RePL for up to 150kg EVLOS. But that’s the… Remote Pilot. I haven’t really thought about the next steps, and once I realised it - it felt like a smack to my face. Of course I had to become a pilot! I will be sitting in an aircraft, that is… experimental.

And to be clear - I think I am not the only one who missed the memo on this one, as a lot of people from my closest environment, as well as readers, subscribers and followers - didn’t think of it either. So… we are on the same boat.

The funny thing is though - I have long ago forsaken becoming a pilot. Why? Because I simply had no money to make it happen. The funny thing is though - it seems as if the universe listened to everything I was saying throughout the years. And here we are… Here’s a Lexie… becoming a pilot. And… It also went around my biggest issues. Such as time and money. Because this IS part of my work. And it is a requirement that will be dealt with… by the company.

“I have never been in a helicopter before”

Those are the words I said to everyone upon getting to our first Helicopter flight lesson. (or rather… familiarity flight) and I saw a couple of faces looking at me as if I came from another planet. I probably blushed a little while stating the same, obvious thing again. “I have never even been in a helicopter before”.

We may be assuming a lot of things as human beings. I bet that you watching my videos assume a lot of things. Guilty myself! I do assume things about other people as well, although I am catching myself on it more and more. In the past I felt really envious about people, who had more chances in life than I did. I think it’s understandable. I come from poverty, where sometimes we didn’t have enough to put food on the table. Meaning - I didn’t really have a chance to do much in my childhood… or youth now that I think of it.

It’s easy to assume that I have been in a helicopter before. Who wasn’t? Especially working in aerospace etc? It may be a thing as obvious as the sun rising in the morning. (Actually, not sure if it’s so obvious. I am literally ASSUMING that) and yet here I was, standing in the hangar, looking at the three helicopters at the spot, realising that I haven’t even seen one up-close. Not even mentioning touching it (which I obviously did with excitement worthy of the Lexie).

I haven’t even dreamt of being in a helicopter and now… I will probably have to learn how to fly it. Life is surprising sometimes, isn’t it?

Now… don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to feed you any of the “if you want something hard enough - it will happen.” or other stuff that you may have heard in “the secret” (which btw is a cool book to read) or “law of attraction”. I haven’t just thought of those things… It took about 8 years of hard work to get myself where I am right now. There’s no such thing as an “overnight success”. Although I like calling mine an “8 year overnight success” - as a joke.

Recently I made a post called “I think about quitting - a lot” and it caused mixed feelings among a ton of people. And that’s fine.

Many of my friends and followers noticed though that I am not the one to give up. And that’s the point - I am pretty stubborn (which is both a good and a bad thing. More on that in any other post).

Which means I am not giving up and that I will push forward to chase my goals and dreams. Staying a bit here, but also focusing on my other project.

What’s the other project!?

I have been hinting on it for some time now and I know it eats us all alive. (It eats me alive too, but considering the really crazy couple of weeks we have at Airspeeder - I had to postpone the big release.)

The secret project is something that I think the world as of now needs. We need more creativity, stubbornness and dreams that have to be fulfilled. And I hope to deliver those to you. So you can achieve the same “8 year overnight success” (well, actually less time for you needed). Through inspiration and information. What say you? ;) (If you have voted in my instagram polls from some months ago… it may have just sparked the memory and idea)

In the meantime - check out my first helicopter flight!
I'll see you - in the next one!

xoxo Lexie