FTA boss Sean Jacob with bursary winner Jordan Smith. Photo: FTA
Flight school FTA Global awarded a £10,000 bursary to one lucky winner at this year’s Fantasy Wings Annual Conference and promised a further £30,000 woth of bursaries for next year’s event.
The £10,000 winner this year was Jordan Smith in recognition to his drive and determination to become a pilot.
The annual Fantasy Wings conference was held on Saturday 2 July in Central London to mark the end of the 2021–2022 cohort of Fantasy Wings participants.
Attendees were treated to a day of talks from industry leaders who shared their experiences with the attentive crowd including:
- Lisa Tremble, Director of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability at British Airways
- David Geer, Senior Vice President Operations at Virgin Atlantic
- Derek Haynes, Senior Captain Virgin Atlantic
- Chris Brown, Training Captain & Examiner EasyJet
- A host of inspirational captains, first officers and instructors.
FTA Global’s Sean Jacob said, “We are a flight school open to all, providing opportunities to students of all nationalities, from a variety of backgrounds.
“We’re delighted to award the FTA & Fantasy Wings Bursary to Jordan Smith for his drive and determination to become a pilot as well as our continued discount across our entire spectrum of training provision to all Fantasy Wings Participants.
“We hope this opens up even more opportunities for women and those in underrepresented communities to access more training and jobs in the commercial airline industry.”
Jackson Smith, founder and managing director of Fantasy Wings, added, “Our partnership with FTA is a key step in the right direction when it comes to addressing a number of important barriers to diversity within the pilot/aviation industry.
“We provide young people with crucial insight and knowledge development that allows them to go off and have successful and satisfying careers within the industry.
“It is great that through our partnership with FTA, our young people will have some of the financial restraints of training eased which is a key step forward in making the industry more diverse and representative.”
