At an age when many are excited by the thought of driving a car, 15-year-old Moruya High School student Ohram McLeod is flying a plane.
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The year 10 student has just landed a GYFTS (Giving Youth Flight Training Support) scholarship with Recreational Aviation Australia in Canberra, which will help him on his way to his dream job as a commercial pilot.
“Flying is pretty magical,” he said.
“You can feel the plane through the controls.”
Ohram’s instructor, Sheldon Jones, suggested he apply for the $1500 scholarship earlier in the year.
“I had to send information about myself, my love for flying, what I wanted to do with the money and in my future, and write a 1000-word essay,” he said.
However, a month after he was due to hear the result, he had all but lost hope.
“I was a bit spewing; I was over it, and then I got an email telling me I got it,” he said.
The money will, of course, go towards his flying expenses.
“It will help me out heaps,” he said.
Ohram cooked fish and chips at a Moruya takeaway and washed planes at Moruya Airport to pay for his flying lessons.
He has 10 flying hours logged flying alongside Mr Jones, and believes he needs about 10 more before he can fly solo.
“The day I go solo will be the greatest day of my life,” he said.
Ohram was born in Moruya, but spent much of his childhood in Lakes Entrance, New Zealand and Canada, and his interest took off when flying in planes in these places.
His ambition is to be a commercial pilot, but not the sort that flies big airliners from one big city to another.
“Big planes like 747s, they fly themselves,” he said.
“I want to fly to remote areas; the sketchiest areas there are.
“I love watching shows like World’s Most Dangerous Place To Be A Pilot.”
Despite his age, the only time Ohram feels nervous in the cockpit of a plane is when it is on the ground.
“The only time it is nerve-wracking is when you are on the runway getting ready to take off,” he said.
“When I am in the air I am not scared at all.”
Mr Jones says he has a bright future.
“The main ingredient a young pilot needs is eagerness, and he has plenty of that,” he said.