A former student at Ellesmere Port Catholic High, now one of the youngest airline pilots in Europe, has received  an award for the best overall performance on his course.

Jai Dillon, of Great Sutton, has always had a keen interest in flying, joining 1074 (Ellesmere Port) Air Training Corps aged 13.

Leaving school with top grades in maths, physics and chemistry, he moved down to Oxford after a well deserved summer break to begin his degree and pilot training aged 18.

“The course was thorough and very intense,” said Jai. “We studied five days a week with multiple lectures each day. The tuition was world class and prepared me very well for my career in the airlines.”

During the course, all the students enjoyed six months of initial flight training in Phoenix, Arizona, before returning to Oxford to complete their advanced flight training and remaining assignments.

Jai graduated from his course in May last year and received two job offers within three weeks.

 He admits the  offer he turned down, which would have resulted in him flying the Boeing 747-400 jumbo jet,  would have been an ‘incredible experience’ and would also have made him quite possibly the world’s youngest jumbo jet pilot.

However, Jai says that he had to be sensible. “The opportunity was incredible and I am thankful for the offer. But I hopefully have many years of flying ahead of me in which I will get the opportunity to fly lots of different types of aircraft.

“I now work for a very successful airline and the flying experience that I will gain will enable me to become the best pilot I possibly can be,” he said.

Jai has been flying passengers since the end of last summer and first flew his current plane, the Boeing 737-800, aged 20. The aircraft has a take-off weight of up to 78 tonnes, carries 189 passengers and flies in excess of 500mph.

Jai has already been based in Liverpool, Rome and Faro but has recently moved back closer to home and is now in Manchester.

“I can honestly say that I must have one of the best jobs in the world,” he added.

“I have had the privilege over the past year to have lived in Rome for six months and Faro for five months. I get great satisfaction from my job and to be able to have worked in some of the nicest places in Europe only fuels my desire to get up and go to work each day!”

Jai recently attended his graduation ceremony in Oxford where all students were issued with their graduation certificates and several awards of special recognition were issued. Gaining a first class degree, with an  average pass rate in his pilot exams of more than 97% and first time above average passes in all flying exams. Jai was presented with an award for best overall performance on his course.

Jai Dillon is presented with his prize
Jai Dillon is presented with his prize

He continues to fly passengers to their holiday destinations across Europe and North Africa.