Pilot gives wings to child's dream of flying

Wanting to give something back before qualifying as a commercial pilot‚ Tatenda Chigwada helped make a child’s dream come true this week when he flew Simbongile Ndara up and over Port Elizabeth for his first time in a plane.

Simbongile‚ 14‚ could not stop smiling all of Tuesday when he took to the skies in a Sling 2 – a South African two-seater light aircraft.

“During take-off I was terrified. I have never been in the air so it was really scary‚” Simbongile said.

“But this was the best day of my life and now I know that I definitely want to be a pilot when I grow up.”

Chigwada‚ 26‚ a third-year aviation student at the Madiba Bay School of Flight‚ had to clock two more hours to ensure he had 100 hours of flying time without an instructor before securing his commercial pilot’s licence.

“I am so glad I got to give Simbongile his first flying experience‚” he said.

Full story in The Herald