Author: Navya Pottumutu

Hey! So recently, I went up on a flight to do forced landings and it was probably the scariest thing I have every done, even including my glider training. My instructor and had a through briefing before the flight, in the meeting he told me about all the procedures, the entries and the recoveries. But when we went up it was a totally different ball game. Though we did not actually land the plane, we did everything we would have done if we ever had a forced landing situation. So, when we were at around 3000 feet, he cut off my power, saying that we had an “engine failure” and that I should make the decisions that I would make incase of an actual engine failure, and we came in to land on a field/flat surface, we over shot our landing. We did this for an entire hour, to build up my confidence and to make sure that I was comfortable incase of an emergency. After this part of my training, I felt like I was ready for anything that was about to come up in the future.

Hello fellow FMA members, ambassadors and supporters! This is my first blog, so here is a little bit about myself. My name is Navya Pottumutu and I’m a grade 11 student at Belmont Secondary School in Victoria BC, Canada. At school, I am a part of several music ensembles, which include; Senior Winds, Jazz Band, Rhythm and Blues Band, Concert Choir and a few student led combos. As the president of our Music Department at Belmont, I thrive to improve my leadership and knowledge regarding different genres of music. Outside of school I am a member of the Royal Canadian Air Cadet Program, which is where my love for aviation was born. Once I joined I knew exactly what I wanted my future to look like. My goal right after high school is to serve for the Royal Canadian AirForce as a fighter jet plot and eventually become an astronaut serving the Canadian Space Agency. As the first step to ‘getting my future career off the ground’ I decided that I should become a glider pilot as a base for everything else. When I finished my glider license in the summer of 2018, my next step was to attain my Private Pilot License. Which was when I had found out about Flying Musicians Association. This program had increased my awareness of the fact that there are many musicians that are passionate about both music as well as aviation. Until this point my only inspiration was Chris Hadfield, who I had looked up to, due to his talent in music and because of the fact the he is a fighter pilot AS WELL AS an astronaut. I have attended several of his concerts and presentations where he talked about his journey and how music had stuck with him through it. Chris Hadfield has always been my biggest inspiration and always will be some one I look up to.

Regarding my Private Pilot training, I started flying on April 07, 2019 at Victoria Flying Club and am currently close to solo. I have around 8 hours of dual training and I am looking forward to continuing with my training in the upcoming months. In my latest flight my instructor Matt and I worked on stalls and steep turns, and in my next flight we are planning to work on circuits, which I’m really excited for!

I would also like to thank FMA for giving me an opportunity to prove my skills and supporting me through my journey and for making me a part of such a wonderful community filled with people that have similar interests as me. In the near future I look forward to making presentations about FMA to my community and friends to spread the news about this wonderful opportunity. I also am excited to share pictures and blogs of my upcoming flights and my ongoing concerts!

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