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News > Alumnae Interviews > Olivia Greathurst - Class of 2017

Olivia Greathurst - Class of 2017

How Olivia Greathurst has reached her dreams of flying passengers around Europe
Olivia Greathurst First Officer - Ryan Air
Olivia Greathurst First Officer - Ryan Air

When I last caught up with Olivia in March 2020 the pandemic had hit which had put a halt to her training, however in July 2020 she was back in the skies and gained her Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL), followed by achieving a Multi-Engine Instrument Rating (MEIR) in September 2020.  Her expectations for finding a job were low with absolutely no airlines recruiting Pilots but Olivia was determined not to  lose touch with the industry and so upon completing her training in October 2020 she found a role working as Business Development Manager for an aviation training company. 

At the beginning of the year Ryanair opened Pilot recruitment. Having completed her training as a Ryanair Mentored Cadet Olivia was one of the first to be contacted to attend a final stage simulator assessment and interview at their Dublin Headquarters. It was a week later that she received the news that she had been successful and was to become a First Officer for Ryanair, flying passengers on the Boeing 737. 

Olivia has been working at Ryanair for almost a year now and has now completed over 500 hours operating as a First Officer.  Olivia said

"After 2 years of training it’s amazing to finally say that I’m a fully qualified commercial pilot flying thousands of people across Europe". Olivia is currently based out of Stansted Airport flying the Boeing 737 and goes onto tell me that she is loving every second! 

"I recently reached out to my old Head of Sixth Form, Mr Budd, on LinkedIn to thank him for the help and support he gave to me when I initially decided I wanted to pursue a career as a Pilot. Without him and the other wonderful staff at SWPS I wouldn’t be where I am now and I hope to use my voice to inspire other young women to pursue a career in aviation".

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