By Robert A. Emmanuel
When Brian Chase was a child growing up in Antigua and Barbuda, he saw the skies as his rightful place in the world, connecting family, friends, tourists, and others.
Last week, he achieved another milestone in his aviation journey — becoming a flight captain for American Airlines.
And, speaking to Observer media yesterday, he encouraged the next generation of aspiring pilots to use all the tools at their disposal to achieve their own goals by urging them to “stay in school, stay out of trouble and never stop believing”.
“Get in the know; back in the day my age group would have to go to the library to look up [information in] encyclopaedias and borrow books just to search for different information about the industry, but these days we have everything at our fingertips,” Chase expressed.
He said the aviation industry is fraught with challenges, both professionally and personally, and called for those interested in the field to “make sure that this is the lifestyle that you want”.
“It takes you away from your family sometimes, and some persons may not like that, so make sure this is what you want to do and set your goal,” the pilot explained.
Last week, it was revealed that Captain Chase will become a pilot-in-command aboard America Airlines’ Miami-based Boeing-737 aircraft.
“The journey was long, tough, through trials and tribulations, blood, sweat and tears, not to mention sleepless nights. The journey that started 21 years ago is reaping even more benefits,” Chase wrote on a social media post.
During yesterday’s interview, he said, “I knew from before I could even speak, because when I was a young child, that is all we did, you know, we used to go to the airport every Sunday and just … from the first plane take-off… it was just amazing.”
For the captain, it was that passion that he wished for other future pilots to carry.
“It is all about passion and when you do something that you are passionate about, you never do a day of work, so the amount of joy, excitement just to connect family, friends, loved ones, it gives you a drive every day,” he exclaimed.