Earning wings is just the start of a high-flying career
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SHE may have been fascinated by flying since her childhood, but in the end it did not take Black Isle resident Samantha Fraser long to find her own wings – taking just two years from starting her Private Pilot’s Licence to being one of Scotland’s youngest female commercial pilots.
Samantha, who was born and brought up in Strathnairn and now lives in Munlochy, said: "My passion is travelling and as part of that going to the airport and watching the aircraft. My first taste at the controls of an aircraft was a flying lesson at Dalcross three years ago and after that, I knew that was what I wanted to pursue as a career.
"It had run through my mind before, but when I looked at the possibility of becoming a professional pilot initially, I wondered if this was something I could actually do because it did seem to be so male dominated. But that’s changing rapidly. There are a lot more females training to be pilots now, which is good. There is a drive to get more women involved and a lot more scholarships opening up for women going into the industry as well."
Samantha, whose father is Duncan Fraser of Inverness family butcher firm Duncan Fraser & Son, began her path to a flying career by taking three months to qualify as a private pilot, preparing her for the 14 theoretical exams before advancing onto the flying phase of her course.
However, Samantha knew from an early stage whose aircraft she would be flying at the end of her training after quickly being talent-spotted by one of Britain’s best-known carriers.
"I was fortunate from the start of my training to be tagged by easyJet, so all the way through, they were monitoring my training and provided I kept up to their standards, I knew I would be offered a job at the end," Samantha said.
"From what I’ve heard so far, it’s such a great company to work for and I’m really happy to become one of their pilots."
As she spoke, Samantha had just finished her first week of work flying passengers to major European cities such as Amsterdam, London and Paris out of her base in Edinburgh.
"Before flying passengers for the first time I have had 70 hours of training in the Airbus simulator and also completed six take-offs and landings in the jet with my fellow coursemates, whilst it was empty," Samantha said.
However, she did acknowledge that taking dual responsibility for millions of pounds worth of aircraft, even without any passengers on board, was a potentially daunting thought.
"I could have gone to university... but instead here I am about to be second in command of £90 million worth of aircraft with 200 odd people on board," she said.
With progression to captain usually taking five to seven years, Samantha is well on track to become lead pilot of her own aircraft well before she is 30, but first will be a posting to Edinburgh Airport as first officer.
"The routes you fly can vary. I think the shortest flight from Edinburgh is over to Belfast. Then the longest is out to Paphos in Cyprus and Tenerife, and each of those is just short of five hours each way," she said.
Yet even the Cyprus run might be short in comparison to some of her future flights if Samantha’s ambitions go to plan.
"At some point, I would like to move on to long haul," she admitted. "I want to see a bit more of the world."
