While most high schoolers get their first taste of freedom after getting their driver’s license, senior Viraj Kadakia gets his freedom by soaring above the ground. There isn’t any rush hour traffic on Jeffrey for Kadakia, only the rush of fulfilling his childhood dream: pursuing his passion for flying by obtaining his pilot license.
“Flying a plane is profound to me because you have control over the sky,” Kadakia said. “There’s something magical about being around the clouds and seeing the views below.”
The 17-year-old described his love for flying as an exhilarating adventure that began long before he started training for his license.
“My parents used to tell me that whenever a plane came, I said ‘hi’ to the plane, and when the plane left, I said ‘bye,’” Kadakia said. “I think just from the very start, I had a passion for aviation and flying.”
That passion soared to new heights after an experience flying to Catalina Island on a small plane hosted by a program called Aviation Explorers. After experiencing the “beauty” of flying on his first flight two years ago, he took off on his own journey and never looked back.
Kadakia’s rigorous training sessions at John Wayne airport look something like this: practicing emergency maneuvers when his instructor randomly stops the engine, managing the aircraft during emergency descents and repeatedly taking off and landing.
“It requires a lot of concentration when I’m flying and landing the plane,” Kadakia said. “I’m very zoned in. When landing, you’re making a bunch of small corrections all at once. You’re flying the plane off of your judgment.”
When he’s not in the cockpit, Kadakia invests countless hours into studying safety protocols, weather patterns and aircraft functions in preparation for his upcoming written, oral and flying examinations required to obtain his pilot license.
However, his journey has not come without turbulence. When he invited his family to watch his first solo flight attempt, Kadakia’s nerves kicked in.
“On the first landing right before the solo attempt, I botched it, so we did an aborted landing,” Kadakia said. “We came back around and did a couple more landings, but the landings just weren’t good. My instructor said, ‘Today is not the day. You should not fly alone today.’”
Though initially a blow to his confidence, Kadakia persevered, continuing to practice until he was ready to try again. Several weeks later, he made his first successful solo flight.
“That day, I was feeling pretty nervous, but I knew that my instructor would not send me up there unless he was confident I was ready and I was not going to crash the plane,” Kadakia said. “So I relied on my skills and my instincts, and it all went well.”
Now, Kadakia is focusing on the next step toward obtaining his license: making a cross-country flight to San Diego or Santa Barbara. Afterward, he’ll train for his instrument rating, which will allow him to fly inside clouds and in more inclement weather conditions.
“Once I get my license, I’ll finally be able to take my friends and family up,” Kadakia said. “I’ll be able to fly for fun and get food from restaurants near the airport. It’s one of the things that pilots do.”
He said that if he could fly to one place in the world without limitations, it would be Mumbai to visit his family—a major part of his life, deeply tied to his experience flying.
“Part of the reason why I fell in love with planes so much was because of the journey to India, taking 24 hours to get there,” Kadakia said. “My family lives there and, no matter the limitations, I would want to use my flying experience to visit my family.”
Kadakia plans to keep flying as a hobby after taking his license examination this November. He wants to pursue aerospace engineering as a career, blending his passion for aviation with the industry.
Kadakia advises anyone curious about aviation to contact a flight school nearby or to try to fly on small planes to see if they’re interested. For those who want to stick to the ground, he recommends joining the Aviation Club in Room 904 on Fridays, where members talk about everything related to planes.
“It may be daunting to pursue flying, but I encourage anyone who’s interested in doing it to push past their comfort zone and give it a shot,” Kadakia said. “Aviation has done so much for me, like growing my maturity by learning how to be safe and having good judgment. It’s truly allowed me to reach for the skies.”
Whether flying solo in his Cessna to grab a bite or leading the Aviation Club, Kadakia is always chasing the sky. In the future, maybe he’ll be the one piloting his favorite aircraft, the Airbus A830, or volunteering as a runway staff member on the ground. Wherever you are, there’s a chance he’s exploring above the clouds, soaring through his dreams.
