He looks a little nervous but the blond-haired boy has his head in the clouds, dreaming of an aviation career, as the confident pilot snaps a selfie on their joy flight.
Jake Robb was a Year 6 student at Kuluin State School when he had the experience of his young life: a small plane flight from Sunshine Coast Airport to Noosa and back.
The world of aviation had always fascinated him and the trip was arranged after his father began chatting to a pilot while watching their youngsters train at Maroochy Beach Gymnastics.
“I remember it being a little frightening but I obviously left the experience with the aviation bug,” said Jake, now a qualified pilot himself, travelling the world.
The former Alexandra Headland resident recently posted his treasured childhood photo to the Sunshine Coast Community Board on Facebook to try to track down the mystery pilot in the photo, to belatedly thank the man – whose name is Ian – for his part in inspiring his career in aviation.
“I’m the first pilot in the family and we are not really sure where the interest came from … Just that when I was a little fella, my parents would take me to Toowoomba airport to watch the planes and then my sister Ashtyn was born and she gave me a toy plane,” Jake said.
“I think this is how the obsession truly started. The flight with Ian just fueled the interest.
“Dad called to say how proud he was one night and we got talking about the flight Ian took me on.”
It was that conversation that led Jake to put up the social media post.
The 1300 reactions and 73 comments included one from group member Genevieve Kerr, who is Ian’s neighbour. Genevieve put the two in contact.
Now Jake and Ian plan to catch up soon.
“Ian was impressed with what I have achieved and, funnily enough, he flies with Qantas on the 787 into New York. We will be grabbing a beer at mine in New York or his on the Sunshine Coast when everything aligns,” said Jake, whose family still lives on the Coast.
Jake has become a true high-flyer, with his work taking him all around the world over the past six years. But he took a moment recently to give a shout-out from his personal Facebook page “to those who helped me along the way”.
His career got off to a flying start with flight training in 2016 with Alasdair and Dianne Read at Aerodynamic Flight Academy.
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“I finished in mid-2017 and (the Reads) helped me achieve my first job,” Jake said.
“I worked at Air Fraser Island and operated small, single-engine aircraft out of the Sunshine Coast.
“I would fly customers up along Noosa, around Rainbow Beach and then land on the sand at Fraser Island, which is now better known as K’gari.
“After building initial time, I went and completed my multi-engine instrument rating at Fast Aviation in Lismore. This led to my next job flying FIFO workers out of Toowoomba in a small twin-engine plane across Queensland and NSW.
“After doing this for a couple years, I obtained the required hours and secured work in America.
“Initially, I was with United Express on a 50-seat regional jet. However, I am now living in New York and operate the Boeing 777 all over the world with Kalitta Air.
“Our locations change often but we currently fly into multiple European locations, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Japan and all over America.”
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That little blond-haired boy’s dreams are still soaring … Jake can see himself as a captain on a wide-body jet with a legacy carrier in the United States one day.
He makes sure he pays forward his knowledge to anyone else wanting to follow in his footsteps.
“I enjoy sharing videos of the operation online and am always happy to discuss anything with those who reach out or show interest,” Jake said.
“It’s an extremely rewarding career and I couldn’t recommend it enough.”
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