Sky's the Limit Eva Keen

SKY'S THE LIMIT

Eva Keen (NHEHS 2018) studied Maths, Physics and Theatre Studies at A level and after NHEHS went to L3Harris (previously known as CTC Aviation). She was based in Bournemouth, Southampton, New Zealand and Gatwick throughout her training. In New Zealand Eva obtained her commercial pilot licence (CPL) aged 20 in spite of the extra challenges of all the Covid lockdowns. Aviation is historically a very male dominated field and even in 2020 a mere 5% of pilots were women, and a tiny 1.42% of all captains were female.

A childhood dream come true

The earliest I can remember wanting to be a pilot was in year four at school and I have never shut up about it since! For my fifteenth birthday my grandparents gave me my first ‘trial flight’ at a local aerodrome which I loved. I was also lucky enough to be hired at the same aerodrome over the school summer holidays for work experience. I vividly remember telling a friend’s dad that I wanted to be a pilot when I was younger and he laughed at me and said ‘why would you want to be a glorified bus driver?’. Hearing this at the time angered me but looking back at it now it definitely spurred me on to pursue this dream.

The training has been demanding, as you would hope and expect! To qualify as a commercial pilot I had to pass 14 written exams in six months, complete 200 hours of flying time, 80 hours solo and a flying skills test. In addition to this I also had to complete an Instrument Rating which qualifies me to fly at night and in bad weather, including thunderstorms, flying only by instruments with no outside visual reference. In April 2021, I finished flight school after completing a final course in jet orientation, airline pilot standard and multi-crew in a full motion A320 simulator at Gatwick which is where I learnt the standard operating procedures to fly passenger jets.

Passing my CPL exam in New Zealand has definitely been a career highlight so far, as well as achieving the highest grade possible in all 9 subjects in my final exam at flight school. One of my favourite things about flying is also making friends for life who share the same passion as me. However, things were really tough when I first finished flight school. I felt lost as there were no jobs available due to the impact of the global pandemic on aviation so I got a job in retail in the interim. On the upside it has helped me with my customer engagement and customer service skills so it has not been wasted time.

School memories & reflections

One of my favourite memories from my time at NHEHS is presenting a whole school assembly with Alyna Shamsi on females in aviation. I also really loved performing in the Crucible as Reverend Parris which was our school play in Sixth Form, as well as lifeguarding for the Junior

School with Mr Bent. Mr Bent was one of my favourite teachers at NHEHS. He taught me throughout Junior school, Senior school and Sixth form, and he always made you laugh and you could easily spend your entire lunch break chatting with him.

NHEHS definitely taught me about female empowerment which has been crucial in my field. Aviation is a very male dominated industry and at times, being one of the only two females in a class of twenty five males in Southampton or in New Zealand being one of ten females in a school of one hundred males, it can get overwhelming.

NHEHS also taught me about perseverance and resilience, when I did not even realise it, and I really relied on those qualities in the moments at L3Harris when events did not go my way. In particular, I remember one point in flight school where I struggled with a navigation lesson which is where you are trying to go from A to B using a map, a compass and a clock. Without having had the experience of being at NHEHS I probably would have given up. However, I remember being taught that you can’t be excellent at anything at the first try and, eventually, in the second lesson I started to get better and better.

EVA KEEN

For anyone considering a career in aviation I would definitely say you need a real passion for it. You really do need to want to actively do extra work behind the scenes to keep your skills sharp. Also, everyone thinks that you must be excellent at maths and physics in aviation - a basic knowledge is all you need (you do not need to do them for A Levels) so do not be put off!

Eva is happy for any other NHEHS Alumnae thinking of a career in aviation to get in touch either directly, or via the Alumnae Relations Officer.