Why I Started An Airline

By: Mahmoud A. Fadli

I believe that everyone has a dream and a passion; something that makes getting up each and every morning worth while. For some, that passion can be helping others, and for others that passion is giving back to a community that has given something to them. For others still, like myself, that passion is a combination of things that is held up by an overriding love: flight.

Ever since I was old enough to think, I looked skyward. Whether it was a jetliner or a small piper buzzing the skies above me, my eyes would always give these unique human marvels of engineering an extra, prolonged stare. I remember the walks that I took with my father on the little pathways surrounding San Francisco International Airport and watching the airplanes land on the 28s. At ten years old, I took my first demonstration flight out of San Carlos Airport, taking the controls of a Diamond Katana DA-20 and merrily working the pattern to perfect my take off and landing skills. Those moments at the controls were like little bits of orchestrated heaven as I went through the checklists and guided my small bird down toward the runway.

Flight is one of those things that is hard to convey to someone who has never had the privilege of taking the controls of an aircraft. Sure, you can describe it as best you can, but there are some things that simply cannot be expressed. It is hard to put into words something that is felt, and even those who could not have flown, like Leonardo Continue reading →