- Some of us have so many dreams swirling in our minds that we don’t know where to start… while others are unable to put their finger on even one.
- I am Bibianne van Latum, born and raised in the Netherlands. I studied and lived in different countries. I moved to Australia seven years ago and now live in the beautiful wine region of the Hunter Valley, two hours north of Sydney. My ultimate goal in life was to learn how to fly a helicopter, and today that’s exactly what I do: I fly helicopters for a living!
- My journey to becoming a helicopter pilot was very tough and lengthy. It wasn’t overnight that I managed to fulfil my dream, but if I can do it, so can you! Presently, Babine is a helicopter pilot with Hunter Valley Helicopters in Australia.
- Here is my story to inspire and motivate you to achieve your goals.
Tracing Your Ancestors: Do You Want to Be a Pilot?
Back home in the Netherlands, there are not too many helicopters. I saw my first ever helicopter in real life when I was 5 years old.
I still remember it so clearly as if it were yesterday when I joined my cousin during her standard plane-spotting exercise in our grandma’s backyard. When I saw a helicopter fly in the sky, I was in awe—what a magical machine!
From then on, whenever I went to see my grandmother, I’d lie on my back in the grass, trying to spot helicopters, but I never saw another one from her garden because there weren’t many around at the time.
At an early age of 5, I was so fascinated by helicopters that I decided to become a helicopter pilot when I grew up. Something that was too good to be true even in my dreams, especially with all odds against me: the wrong country, the wrong gender, no connections in aviation, no rich parents, and no mechanical background
Time went by, but my dream of becoming a helicopter pilot did not die. In fact, the passion for helicopters kept getting stronger and stronger.
When I was 17, I graduated from secondary school and contacted the military to see if I could get my license through them. However, I had to sign up for 13 years, and I wouldn’t fly a helicopter for at least 2–3 years!
It was fair to say that the Netherlands wasn’t the best country to chase my dream, but that couldn’t stop me.
I thought to myself, “There has to be a way.” That is when I decided to study hard, graduate with good grades, and find a well-paying job to be able to finance the course to become a helicopter pilot myself.
With this in mind, I chose to study International Management at Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. My degree had an exchange programmed to study abroad, which took me to Taiwan and China.
After graduating from my bachelor’s degree, I continued studying and got my master’s degree with honors from Royal Holloway, University of London.
With fluency in English and a background in international trade and management, I pictured myself being able to get well-paid jobs sooner and thus make enough money to finance the course to get a helicopter pilot’s license.
Next to this, I knew that if I wanted to become a pilot, I needed to be flexible with locations as jobs are often in remote locations, especially the more junior jobs.
By living in different countries (through my exchange program), I soon found out that this wouldn’t be an issue. It would also help me understand different cultures and speak a variety of languages, which would come in handy with overseas passengers (and it has!).
Since I did not have wealthy parents, I’ve always worked as much as I could in school, which helped me finance my studies and save up where I could. It’s all about setting priorities; if you set them right, the money will come with time and devotion.
After graduating, I started my career in recruitment. a career that, if successful, would allow me to make a lot of money and work internationally, which would help with my long-term goal of becoming a pilot.
Everything was built around the dream of becoming a helicopter pilot.
Moving to Australia to pursue my dream of becoming a helicopter pilot
Flight schools in Australia, America, and New Zealand are among the best in the world. After working in the Netherlands as a recruiter for more than five years, I decided to move to New Zealand to work and start my training as a pilot.
When I moved to New Zealand to start my Private Pilot License training, I had to deal with restricted working rights, which I couldn’t overcome.
Hence my decision to cross the ditch and move to Australia. Unfortunately, when I arrived in Australia, the laws had changed, and I now needed to become a permanent resident before I could work.
I continued my career in recruitment in Melbourne, a job I loved only for the prospects of becoming a helicopter pilot. But I quickly discovered that Australia was very different from what I was used to in the Benelux.
I’m almost about to give up on my dream and move back home.
It was very difficult to adjust to the Australian market, and I was almost about to give up and return to the Netherlands when I was luckily headhunted by one of the most inspiring people in recruitment, Rob Millington, a very passionate “go-getter.”
He listened to my dream and convinced me to give it one more shot.
Rob believed in me and offered me an amazing opportunity, which gave me everything I needed.
I was also given a desk with an hourly view of helicopters flying by, as well as more belief and motivation than ever before that I could achieve my dream.
He motivated me to keep chasing my dream and literally pushed me to achieve my financial goals and get my Australian permanent residency. I will always be grateful for meeting Rob!
I was so driven that I was able to become the company’s top consultant multiple years in a row.
Rob wasn’t the only colleague who kept me focused on my dream; my colleague Geoff Parker, who has a passion for flying too, would come with me to spot the beautiful helicopters that landed on the helipads in Melbourne’s CBD and kept pointing out the window, where helicopters would fly past, to keep me motivated when I needed it.
From Recruiter to Pilot in a Helicopter! Dreams do come true!
After more than three years of working at that recruitment firm, I finally had $60,000 in my bank account and my Australian PR visa That day, I resigned, handed in my notice, and when asked why, I proudly stated that it was to pursue my dream of becoming a helicopter pilot.
I completed my flight training and had to do a lot of studying, but everything was focused on helicopters; it was the best 8 months of my life at the time.
Soon after, I was offered jobs flying in the most unique locations in Australia: Ayers Rock, followed by the Hunter Valley, where the sky is now my limit.
In Conclusion…
No experience in life gets wasted. It all builds you in some way or another. I would like to share a few key takeaways from my journey:
- Be patient. Did this happen overnight? No. It took nearly 15 years for me to realize my dream of becoming a helicopter pilot.
- Be persistent. For many years, I wasn’t even convinced it was realistic to ever learn to even fly helicopters, let alone do it for a living.
- Don’t let others distract you from what’s important to you. There are so many distractions in life, and your own self-doubt is one of them. It was sometimes easier to stick to what you knew than to go out there and start going after what you really wanted. I had several major setbacks: job, relationships, legislative changes, etc. But when you follow your passion, there seems to be only one right path, and there may be a lot of bumps along the way, but if you really want it, you’ll make it to the end of the path and fulfil your dream!
- Keep listening to the positive voices in your head. Listen to your heart and keep pursuing what you want. The longer it took, the harder it got, just before I met people like Rob and Geoff, who helped me keep my dream alive.
- Don’t doubt yourself; believe in yourself. By constantly reminding myself of why I wanted it and what it would give me, I managed to never give up.
- Make decisions based on evidence. I knew I could not directly pursue my dream of becoming a pilot. So I planned a way around it. I studied a degree that could help me achieve my goal. I chose a career in recruitment, which could again, somehow indirectly, take me a step closer to my goal. So I kept making decisions with my end goal in mind.
- Don’t let idealism lead you; do what’s right for you. There is no ideal path to achieve a goal or a dream, so do what’s best for you.
- Recruitment thoroughly trained me in sales, management, and marketing, which coincidentally helps me every day in my current job as a helicopter pilot. And the persistence you need in recruitment serves me well in the aviation industry. So, no experience in life gets wasted. It all builds you in some way or another. Always do what suits you and your circumstances; avoid looking at how it should be ideally done, or else you might get disappointed.
- Education is very important. I think it’s important to also develop on an academic level; this is something that’s valuable for the rest of your life, whether you work in the industry or not. It requires a certain determination and mindset to be able to graduate from university. Also, it has given me a baseline of security that I can always fall back on.
- Be the best version of yourself. Money is only a vehicle to get somewhere; don’t let it stop you.
- Be kind to others and yourself.
