Fantasy Wings - The First of Many!

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend Fantasy Wings' inaugural session for the 2023/24 cohort, which took place in London. I had been longing to become a part of Fantasy Wings for the past couple of years, luckily this year I was fortunate enough to secure a spot in the programme. I remember attending my first aviation careers event at the age of 16, where I struggled to find representation of females in the field. However, my experience at Fantasy Wings' session was a complete reversal of that situation. As I entered the session, I felt the mental barriers I held slowly diminish. The diversity within the group finally gave me a sense of belonging in aviation. It became evident to me that the only thing holding me back from achieving my goal of becoming a pilot was myself.

The session started with insight into Fantasy Wings’ and what they are about. With an introduction to Fantasy Wings by the CEO Jackson Smith and the session led by Mo Taher, we learned more about their mission and their humble achievements in fulfilling it. There is a lack of diversity in the aviation industry with a small percentage of pilots being women and an even smaller percentage of pilots being of an ethnic minority background. Fantasy Wings is on a mission to change that as they state, “Limited support and systemic barriers make it hard for underrepresented groups to access the exciting opportunities on offer in the Airline Pilot industry.” My main reason for joining the community was to connect with individuals who shared similar aspirations and to gain insights from those who already have experience in the industry. I believe that meeting others who have already made the journey of where I want to be, opens opportunities for learning and personal growth. Fantasy Wings highlight the importance of networking as there are opportunities to meet people in the industry throughout the ten-month programme. However, I understand some may find “networking” quite daunting, as I remember I did in my first year of university. Networking can simply be viewed as meeting people, discovering what they do, and what they find most enjoyable about it. If, during a conversation, you realise you share an interest with that person, you may naturally ask questions and benefit from it. If you don't share an interest, it is my belief there is nothing lost, as you may have learned something new. Networking uncovers a room full of opportunities that may not be so readily apparent, so I highly encourage you all to make good use of it when you have the chance to do so!

The remainder of the session featured Mo Taher, who gave us insights on what it is like to work at an airport, sharing his experience of working as an Engineer at Heathrow, and most recently a content creator. As a group, we delved into the concept of working in an airport as a vast network of individuals, listing what roles we thought were available within aviation. We explored the variety of crucial roles, ranging from emergency services and baggage engineers to data scientists and even meteorologists, realising that it consists of a network of people from diverse backgrounds. We then participated in an activity involving a real-life case study. This provided us with the opportunity to meet new people in the room since we were divided into groups at random, and it also helped us develop our teamwork skills.

Overall, the inaugural session was great and so efficiently organised that I was shocked at how fast time flew. I benefitted from the session by meeting new people and learning new things about the industry and I am excited to see what the rest of the programme has to offer. If you haven’t heard of Fantasy Wings and would like to learn more, information can be found on their website below.

https://fantasywings.co.uk

If you’re new here please feel welcome to follow my journey along on my socials, or by reading one of my other blog posts. Hopefully, I'll see you up in the skies soon!