A pilot at 19

“IF I’m being honest, I never really thought about aviation until my dad came to me with the idea one day.”

These are the words of Saskia Thieme (19), who recently completed her private pilot’s licence (PPL) in just over a year after finishing high school.

Thieme says she never considered aviation until her father, Namibian businessman Sven Thieme, asked her if she would be interested in becoming a pilot.

“The more I thought about it, the more excited I became, so I agreed and started not so long after I finished high school. That is when I started falling in love with it myself,” she says.

Thieme says her biggest goal in life is to learn as much as she can in various different fields.

This passion has allowed Thieme to do a paramedic training course while preparing for her PPL at the same time.

Managing both was a balancing act, she says.

A hair-raising moment came in May when she had a hard landing that caused damage to the aircraft’s propeller and nose wheel, she says.

“I could not control the aircraft any more, so I had to go back into the air and wait for about 45 minutes for the people on the ground to tell me when it was safe to attempt landing again, or pull the parachute,” she says.

“They decided the plane should be able to sustain one more normal landing if I did it perfectly. I did, thankfully,” she says.

Thieme describes her solo navigation flights as a lot of fun.

“Solo navigation flight means you fly a route outside of Windhoek, for example, from Windhoek to Karibib to Okahandja and back, because at that point in training you already know how to do everything, so all you have to do is just have fun really,” she says.

Thieme says she is lucky her family owns an aircraft she could use to clock in her flying hours.

She hopes to own her own aircraft one day, she says.

She plans to study towards a degree next year, she says.

“When I’m done with that I may continue with my commercial pilot’s licence, but for now I just want to fully enjoy my licence and fly as much as I want to without going to aviation school. I have not officially decided yet,” Thieme says.

The young pilot has many different interests.

“I’ve always been interested in creative careers, such as photography, videography and writing. I’ve also always been interested in the more logical careers, like zoology, accounting, business and science.

“I also love working with people, so I have also considered psychology or maybe even going into education. I have always known I would never just do one thing my entire life. Who knows? Maybe I will mix aviation, photography and writing,” she says.

Thieme encourages those who want to pursue aviation licences to do so.

“Find your purpose with aviation, there will be tough times, but I promise, it’s worth it. Just push through it. Flying is a kind of beautiful solitude that cannot really be described.

“Nothing compares to being up high in the air on your own and being able to go where you want,” she says.

Thieme’s instructor at Signa Aviation Services, Jano van der Walt, says she was a very enthusiastic student, who was always on time, and always prepared for her slots.

“When a task was handed out, either theoretical or to go do a few things, she always did it, always got back to us.

“We never had issues with Saskia, so we are looking forward to working with her in the future,” he says.

Van der Walt encourages people to get private pilot’s licences, although the exams can be daunting, he says.