To be a commercial pilot. It's what I have wanted and dreamed about my entire life. Unfortunately it's not so easy due to the incredibly expensive training costs. There's really two options for the training, either you pay it yourself/take out a loan and do the training yourself either all at once with a flying school or bit by bit over a longer period. The other option is to get accepted by one of the airline cadet pilot schemes which are becoming more common but also highly competitive. Taking out a loan is risky because after you complete your training you would still need to find an airline and there's no way of telling how the industry will be when I finish and how many jobs would be available and I wouldn't want to give my family that burden of a loan that size.

I just graduated with a degree in Aerospace Engineering and throughout I had began to think that being an engineer wouldn't be all that bad. I have a good degree from a good university and I'm sure that if I looked hard enough I could get a job no problem. My family became more in support of me being an engineer mostly because my uncle is a pilot and we know the commercial pilot lifestyle isn't as luxurious as it seems.

Aer Lingus were taking applications for a cadet pilot scheme. The first cadet scheme of its kind where you pay nothing towards the training costs. I had nothing to lose. I applied and ended up getting to the final interview stage where I was one of probably around 50 or 60 down from over 5,000 applicants. I came out of that interview thinking I had absolutely nailed it. I was over the moon and I knew that I couldn't have done any better, but a few days later I got word that I hadn't got through. I was heartbroken. My earlier confidence that I would get through made it harder. One positive was that the interview and assessment experience I gained throughout the process is invaluable and I'm hoping this will aid me when the next opportunity arises.

The most important thing I realised is that I don't want to be an engineer and my family know that now. I will never be truly happy until I achieve my dream.