Aviation is ancestral for me
I grew up in the shadow of a DC-9. I have been broken twice by this industry, and I rebuilt both times. That is the whole story, really.
My father built and ran a people-focused charter airline in South Africa. I grew up around the Douglas DC-9 and the HS748, and my first solo flight told me everything I needed to know about where I belonged. Then, in 2006, the airline was liquidated and our family home emptied out. I was young, scared, and defiant. I swore I would never be that defenseless again.
In 2010 I joined SA Express and lived the life of an airline pilot, flying the CRJ. I learned the discipline of command, the rigour of checklists, and the weight of responsibility. I also learned how little control a pilot has over his own career. So in 2019, still flying the line, I started building: a podcast and a digital training course. On a beach in Mykonos that September, my phone buzzed with course sales while I sat with a cocktail. It rewired my brain. Leverage works.
Months later COVID grounded the industry and SA Express closed. I lost my job for the second time. But this time I had somewhere to go. I moved into the business side of flight simulation training, turned a paper-heavy operation into a digital one, and embraced AI early and without permission. Today I run that facility, I still train pilots in the simulator, and I use AI to build tools that help pilots make better decisions in the cockpit.
I am a husband and a father of two. They are the reason everything else exists. I am not perfect, and the work I do on myself matters more to me than any business result. But I show up, I put in the reps, and I always find a way.