Flying enthusiast Mitchell Hill made headlines when he earned his private pilot licence before his driver’s licence on his 17th birthday.
Five years down the line, this East London aviation prodigy has just obtained his airline transport pilot licence and criss-crosses the expanses of war-torn Iraq for the Red Cross.
Hill, 22, who did a flyover over Hudson Park High School’s Founders Day celebrations when he was a Grade 11 pupil at the school, is about to start his next tour of duty and is due to return to Iraq any day now.
Although he may not divulge details of his work in Iraq for security reasons, the young pilot, who flies a 21-seater Beechcraft 1900D and completed all his training through the Border Aviation Club, said he does not feel unsafe, despite flying to Baghdad regularly.
“When I first got the job I was nervous because I didn’t know what to expect, but I live in a townhouse in a well-guarded compound in Erbil and feel safer walking down the street to go to gym there than I do in South Africa.
“At first all I knew was what I saw in the press about war-torn cities and car bombs and terrorist attacks weekly, but now I feel more cautious than afraid.
“In fact the most difficult thing to deal with is the heat. It got as high as 52ºC once,” said Hill, who obtained his commercial pilot’s licence in 2013 and raked up 1500 hours in order to qualify for his recently acquired airline transport pilot’s licence.
He may feel safe but concedes that Erbil, which is situated about 70km from Mosul, an Isis stronghold, has been hit by bombs before.
“It’s a cool job. I love flying and get to see exciting things and fly to places people just imagine. I have been to Jordan, the Dead Sea and the ancient city of Petra and fly over the holy ground of the Tigris River every day.
“I have to pinch myself about where I actually am.”
Hill is employed by Solenta Aviation, a South African company which leases aircraft and crew to the Red Cross.
He landed the job after clocking up his 1500 flying hours. Much of this was in the DRC where he worked for a gold mine, transporting people and gold to Uganda and Kenya.
He inherited the flying gene from his father Patrick Hill.
“I am extremely proud of my son,” said Patrick, who is so passionate about flying he has converted part of his Wings Park hangar into a comfortable weekend getaway, complete with an open-plan kitchen that essentially shares space with his two aircraft.
“Mitchell is a natural.
“I was a bit concerned at first because it is a hostile environment, but the intelligence is good and he regularly lets us know he is safe.” — barbarah @dispatch. co.za
EL pilot doing duty in Iraq
Five years down the line, this East London aviation prodigy has just obtained his airline transport pilot licence and criss-crosses the expanses of war-torn Iraq for the Red Cross.
Hill, 22, who did a flyover over Hudson Park High School’s Founders Day celebrations when he was a Grade 11 pupil at the school, is about to start his next tour of duty and is due to return to Iraq any day now.
Although he may not divulge details of his work in Iraq for security reasons, the young pilot, who flies a 21-seater Beechcraft 1900D and completed all his training through the Border Aviation Club, said he does not feel unsafe, despite flying to Baghdad regularly.
“When I first got the job I was nervous because I didn’t know what to expect, but I live in a townhouse in a well-guarded compound in Erbil and feel safer walking down the street to go to gym there than I do in South Africa.
“At first all I knew was what I saw in the press about war-torn cities and car bombs and terrorist attacks weekly, but now I feel more cautious than afraid.
“In fact the most difficult thing to deal with is the heat. It got as high as 52ºC once,” said Hill, who obtained his commercial pilot’s licence in 2013 and raked up 1500 hours in order to qualify for his recently acquired airline transport pilot’s licence.
He may feel safe but concedes that Erbil, which is situated about 70km from Mosul, an Isis stronghold, has been hit by bombs before.
“It’s a cool job. I love flying and get to see exciting things and fly to places people just imagine. I have been to Jordan, the Dead Sea and the ancient city of Petra and fly over the holy ground of the Tigris River every day.
“I have to pinch myself about where I actually am.”
Hill is employed by Solenta Aviation, a South African company which leases aircraft and crew to the Red Cross.
He landed the job after clocking up his 1500 flying hours. Much of this was in the DRC where he worked for a gold mine, transporting people and gold to Uganda and Kenya.
He inherited the flying gene from his father Patrick Hill.
“I am extremely proud of my son,” said Patrick, who is so passionate about flying he has converted part of his Wings Park hangar into a comfortable weekend getaway, complete with an open-plan kitchen that essentially shares space with his two aircraft.
“Mitchell is a natural.
“I was a bit concerned at first because it is a hostile environment, but the intelligence is good and he regularly lets us know he is safe.” — barbarah @dispatch. co.za
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