Do you ever wonder how life is above the clouds? When the sky is home and the clouds are your best friends. Meet Rohit Bhojwani, Commercial Pilot and Flight Instructor at Greater Muncton International Airport in Canada. His main job is to try and keep the number of landings equal to the number of take offs and teach other aspirants to do the same.He teaches students how to fly and airplane! they start the program from zero and bring students up to their Commercial Pilot license. Flying is more than just a job, flying is pure passion and desire, which will fill a lifetime. When I had a chat with him, I was left with a deep desire to learn how to fly.
How does a normal day go by?
Usually I wake up at 5am and check the weather along with any airport and area bulletins that will influence my flights later on in the day. At around 6:30am I arrive at Greater Moncton International Airport to start my day, where I greet my first student and ask him if he has completed his pre-flight checks (which includes an internal and external inspection of the aircraft, along with a deep-dive on the weather and other factors to consider for our flight). After I brief him on what we will be doing on today’s lesson we walk to our little aircraft sitting on the tarmac.
We get to the runway, lined up and ready to go: Take-off power set, Temperatures & Pressures checked, Airspeed gauge alive and before you know it, we are in the air! As we fly to our designated training areas, I take control of the airplane and demonstrate how to do a Spin Maneuver.
It’s not a very easy thing to do when you’re trying to explain theory while intentionally making an airplane spin like a tumble dryer. I relinquish control back to my student and he gives it a go. We cover a few more maneuvers and we return to the airport, hoping that my student shows me a smooth touchdown on the runway. After we finish the flight, we fuel the aircraft back up and then return to the college campus, where I de-brief my student on his performance during the flight. As I bid goodbye to my first student, my second student of the day is waiting for me ready with his pre-flight duties done. The cycle repeats about 3 to 4 times a day depending on the weather.
How did you become a flying instructor?
I graduated 4 years later with a BSc in Aviation out of Mount Allison University, a program that has ties with the Moncton Flight College. The program had me take courses from both institutions, while I trained to get my Pilot Licenses.After graduating from my Flight College’s Commercial Pilot program, I enrolled in the Instructor Course – where I learnt the ins and outs on how to instruct students. When I passed my final flight test, the examiner gave my Chief Pilot a thumbs up and I became their newest hire.
What set of problems does flying pose for you?
It’s a very weather-dependent job as it determines whether we go flying or not. On certain days where the clouds are low and its coverage is dense, we can’t conduct a lesson should we enter a cloud and lose sight of our exteriors. In those circumstances, we cancel the flight and go home. There are some days where the amount of work we can do is really limited.
How does being aflight instructor affect your lifestyle?
One of the biggest benefits of being a flight instructor is I get to create my own schedule. I am tasked to do morning flights so I usually have an early start and my night flights are done before sunrise, whereas other instructors work in the evenings. I make my schedule 2 days prior to my flight, giving me ample time to adjust my sleep cycle. I like working mornings as I get off work pretty early in the day, giving me lots of time to run errands and meet my friends in the evening.
What do you love the most about flying and teaching how to fly?
Today, even afterhaving logged several hundred hours as an Instructor, I still get the same excitement and rush when my student starts the engine up as I did when I began my own training 5 years ago.
Watching my students ace their flight tests or other rites of passage always makes me happy. Knowing that I help them fulfil their dreams of being professional pilots is something that keeps me extremely motivated and excited to teach more. There are many ways you can help others but I think flight instruction was the best way for me to do that.
What advice would you give to someone who wishes to pursue flying?
A flight instructor is not only one who teaches students to fly, but they are also role models. If you go above and beyond, avoid complacency, know your theory, and be humble; you’ll set a strong example to your students who will eventually adopt those habits and apply them in their careers as future professional pilots.
How has your educational background been?
As far as my education goes, I grew up in Santiago de Chile and lived there till I was 16. Then I moved to India to finish up my high school and travelled all the way to a little town in Atlantic Canada named Sackville. A solid foundation in Physics, Math would be good to start with. Flying courses cover the essential knowledge specific to this field.
Apart from the sky and the airport, you can find Rohit here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rohitpbhojwani/
Nidhi is a 20 year old ambivert who completed her schooling from Nath Valley School, Aurangabad. In 2018, she joined the MIT School of Fine Arts and Applied Arts in Pune to pursue her BFA in Applied Arts and Visual Communication. She has a soft spot for reading, writing, and travel. Helping others find their true passion, is one of her interests. As a writer on Careerfox, she intends to interview professionals from diverse career backgrounds and blog about them. She believes that this would not only nurture her love for writing, but also would help youngsters make more informed career choices.