Pilot pen pals

Ten-year-old Emily is an aspiring pilot.

More specifically, her dream is to one day be a Jetstar 787 Captain.

Alongside her family, Emily usually spends her spare time plane spotting at Melbourne Airport and taking regular flights to Sydney to check out the planes at Sydney Airport.

But with fewer planes in the sky during stage 4 lockdown in Melbourne, Emily has had to find new ways to learn about flying.

As part of a school project and with the help of her mum, Emily had the idea to write to Jetstar’s Chief Pilot Captain Jeremy Schmidt to ask the tough questions about what it takes to be a 787 Captain.

“What steps did you take to become a pilot?”, was one of many questions she asked.

Emily was delighted when she received a handwritten letter in response.

“At school I made sure I did mathematics as I needed that subject to be a pilot, and I studied hard,” responded Captain Schmidt.

Since her first letter in July, Emily has kept the questions coming for Captain Schmidt with five letters being exchanged so far.

Captain Schmidt agrees that it’s this kind of initiative that makes a good pilot, and there’s no doubt Emily has a future in flying.

Keep following your dreams, Emily – we can’t wait wave to you from the Melbourne sky again soon!