Once you start flying, you’ll never want to go back to anything else

Desiree Gases Dwight Nakapunda is 22 and is from Windhoek, Namibia. “I was born and raised here,” he said. He is currently studying aviation at Signa Aviation and he started his aviation journey in 2018. It took Nakapunda about two years to complete his private licence. “If you have the funds, completing your licence should take you about six to eight months,” he added.He found out about aviation school through word of mouth, because a friend was studying aviation as well and after doing intense research, he decided that he wanted to pursue it as a career.Nakapunda said it wasn’t easy convincing his parents about the shift in career, mainly because of how much aviation school costs. Just a year before he started aviation school, he was initially at the University of Namibia for six months where he was studying geophysics, and he realised that was not what he wanted to do. He then went around to private investors and companies to try to get some sort of a scholarship or bursary. Nakapunda managed to get a small sponsorship from a private investor, which helped him cover some of the funds. After seeing how passionate and eager Nakapunda was to try and get funding for his aviation school, his parents then went ahead to fund his training. Varsity Corner asked Nakapunda if avaiation school was what he expected it to be. To this, he said: “It’s not what I expected because I remember after my first three to four flights I didn’t want to continue, but after giving it a few more tries, I started getting comfortable and I started realising that I love it”.His application process was fairly easy, but “there were just a lot of medical tests” Nakapunda said. After applying and getting accepted, the school requires you to make a 20% deposit and only after the deposit, he could start his training. But the deposit was only to get him started with ground school, the instruments he needed for flying and his uniform.Some of the challenges Nakapunda faced were getting over the fear of certain exercises and financial constraints at certain times. “The advice I’d give to any aspiring student who wants to study piloting is that you will have to make a lot of sacrifices and you’ll also have to understand the value of someone making sacrifices for you. Stay hard working and consistent and that will get you through the door. Once you start flying, you’ll never want to go back to anything else,” he said.

Once you start flying, you’ll never want to go back to anything else

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Republikein 2025-11-03

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Once you start flying, you’ll never want to go back to anything else

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Republikein 2025-11-03

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