HE can’t yet drive a car but Scarborough teenager Taj Massey is already conquering the skies.
The Year 9 student became the youngest solo pilot in Australia this month, aged just 15 years and nine hours, taking to the air on his 15th birthday.
Taj has been enamoured with flying since he was a toddler.
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READ NOW“My dream was always to become a pilot,” he said.
He started at a flight school in Bindoon in March and quickly progressed.
When the opportunity arose to break the Recreational Aviation Australia by performing his first solo flight on his birthday, Taj did not hesitate.
“I was well ready and confident,” he said. “It was amazing; if you stuff up, there’s not someone else there to collect you.”
Taj said though there was a lot of “thinking and calculating” involved in flying, it was also extremely relaxing.
“When you’re up there you get to witness stuff that other people don’t get to see,” he said. “Everything else I’m thinking about just disappears.”
He is now working towards achieving his recreational pilot licence and hopes to become a commercial pilot.
Taj knows there is plenty of work for him to get to that stage but is passionate about the profession.