17-year-old becomes pilot and passes flying exam - before he can drive
- 8 months ago
A 17-year-old has become one of Britain's youngest pilots after passing his flying exam - before he can drive.
Antoni Krzyzos turned 17 on the 12th June and became a officially licensed pilot the very next day.
The youngest age someone can hold a pilot's license is 17, with Antoni completing his first solo flight at 16 years old whilst still in training.
After passing nine written exams with flying colours whilst still in sixth-form and completing his final two-hour flight, Antoni was presented with his license and is now able to fly anywhere in the world.
The sixth-former now hopes to be accepted into flight school following his studies in the hopes of becoming an airline pilot.
Antoni, from Wimbledon, south-west London, said: "It's something I've always been interested in and there's a lot of opportunities in aviation
"My parents never knew how seriously I wanted to do it but I managed to self-fund all my training through a part-time job during Covid.
"I passed all of the exams first time and most of them scored 100%.
"The flight school was amazing and I met some really cool people there.
"The start of training to passing my exam was just under a year part-time.
"Even during the training it felt like a milestone when I had my first solo flight.
"Especially now that I can fly whenever I want, it's amazing.
"You get this feeling of the rush and the pressure on the ground but once you take off you have that real peace up there."
Antoni first took an interest in flying when he was five years old, and knew it was what he wanted to do.
He said: "My first memory was when I was five years old and we went on holiday to Tunisia and I saw the cockpit doors open and I knew it was something I wanted to do."
Antoni now has the freedom of flying wherever he likes, though he has to fork out £250 every time he wants to fly.
He said: "I've made a friend at the flight school so we share the costs and the hours and I use an app to share flights.
"I do flight from London to the Isle of Wight for example and I take my family up sometimes and it's really good.
"I work at local bakery and help my flight school with ferry flights which is when a plane needs a maintenance check I offer to fly them to the place where they need maintenance so that helps get my hours up.
"I'm able to go over Luton Airport and see all the planes and hear the pilots talking and I'm often sat there dreaming of that being me one day."
Antoni's final exam was two-hour flight, complete with manoeuvres and an 'emergency' diversion.
He said: "We did the Luton transit and that went really well and then we did a diversion which is a simulated 'emergency' to divert us to a different airfield and during that I did perfectly.
"Then we did some general handling like stalls, steep turns etc but I thought I'd failed that because the examiner took control but then we eventually landed and he turned and said 'congratulations, you're a pilot."
The ambitious youngster aims to go one better, and hopes to be an fully qualified First Officer for an airline by his 19th birthday.
"As of now, I'm focusing on my flying and my flight school seems to be impressed with my progression," Antoni said.
He added: "Once you get into an airline flight school the normal duration is 18 months to become an airline pilot but because I've got my PPL (private pilots license) it will cut my training to around a year.
"And if I do manage to get a place with BA then I'll be hoping to work as a First Officer by my 19th birthday if all goes to plan."
Antoni says his parents have "always believed" in him and are "very encouraging".
He added: "It takes me around three hours by train to get to the airfield and three hours back so they often offer to drive me.
"Once I did my first solo they were so proud and whenever we have friends and family visiting they're always talking about me.
"I'm sure my mum's scared sometimes as it's not the safest of things!
"But that's what I like about it, as it's about the decision making."
Antoni Krzyzos turned 17 on the 12th June and became a officially licensed pilot the very next day.
The youngest age someone can hold a pilot's license is 17, with Antoni completing his first solo flight at 16 years old whilst still in training.
After passing nine written exams with flying colours whilst still in sixth-form and completing his final two-hour flight, Antoni was presented with his license and is now able to fly anywhere in the world.
The sixth-former now hopes to be accepted into flight school following his studies in the hopes of becoming an airline pilot.
Antoni, from Wimbledon, south-west London, said: "It's something I've always been interested in and there's a lot of opportunities in aviation
"My parents never knew how seriously I wanted to do it but I managed to self-fund all my training through a part-time job during Covid.
"I passed all of the exams first time and most of them scored 100%.
"The flight school was amazing and I met some really cool people there.
"The start of training to passing my exam was just under a year part-time.
"Even during the training it felt like a milestone when I had my first solo flight.
"Especially now that I can fly whenever I want, it's amazing.
"You get this feeling of the rush and the pressure on the ground but once you take off you have that real peace up there."
Antoni first took an interest in flying when he was five years old, and knew it was what he wanted to do.
He said: "My first memory was when I was five years old and we went on holiday to Tunisia and I saw the cockpit doors open and I knew it was something I wanted to do."
Antoni now has the freedom of flying wherever he likes, though he has to fork out £250 every time he wants to fly.
He said: "I've made a friend at the flight school so we share the costs and the hours and I use an app to share flights.
"I do flight from London to the Isle of Wight for example and I take my family up sometimes and it's really good.
"I work at local bakery and help my flight school with ferry flights which is when a plane needs a maintenance check I offer to fly them to the place where they need maintenance so that helps get my hours up.
"I'm able to go over Luton Airport and see all the planes and hear the pilots talking and I'm often sat there dreaming of that being me one day."
Antoni's final exam was two-hour flight, complete with manoeuvres and an 'emergency' diversion.
He said: "We did the Luton transit and that went really well and then we did a diversion which is a simulated 'emergency' to divert us to a different airfield and during that I did perfectly.
"Then we did some general handling like stalls, steep turns etc but I thought I'd failed that because the examiner took control but then we eventually landed and he turned and said 'congratulations, you're a pilot."
The ambitious youngster aims to go one better, and hopes to be an fully qualified First Officer for an airline by his 19th birthday.
"As of now, I'm focusing on my flying and my flight school seems to be impressed with my progression," Antoni said.
He added: "Once you get into an airline flight school the normal duration is 18 months to become an airline pilot but because I've got my PPL (private pilots license) it will cut my training to around a year.
"And if I do manage to get a place with BA then I'll be hoping to work as a First Officer by my 19th birthday if all goes to plan."
Antoni says his parents have "always believed" in him and are "very encouraging".
He added: "It takes me around three hours by train to get to the airfield and three hours back so they often offer to drive me.
"Once I did my first solo they were so proud and whenever we have friends and family visiting they're always talking about me.
"I'm sure my mum's scared sometimes as it's not the safest of things!
"But that's what I like about it, as it's about the decision making."