Quarter 1 Highlight: Charli’s Childhood Dreams Come True

By Aleksandra Miladinovic on Mar 01, 2023 12:03 PM |

Phoenix East Aviation wants to congratulate all its pilots who completed their licenses or ratings in Quarter 1 of 2023. A lot of hard work and dedication is behind these achievements!

Phoenix East Aviation is proud to have one of the highest populations of female pilots, and among them is Charlize Haddican, or Charli, who recently completed her flight instructor ratings. She has successfully completed her training in an impressive amount of time. She quite literally “flew” her way through training. Let’s take a further look at how aviation has played a role in her life, and how she got to PEA.

Charli grew up surrounded by a love for aviation, in the United Kingdom. She considers her father her role model, and when she is done with her flight training, her end goal is, “to go back to Hong Kong and fly with my Dad for Cathay Pacific,” said Haddican. However, her family’s history in the aviation industry began long before Charli was born, beginning with her great-uncle. He bought Intra Airways, a charter airline that operated both passengers and cargo, while flying both DC3s and Viscounts from the English Channel Islands to Gloucester. After that, he and ten other pilots flew six unairworthy B-25 Mitchells from the United States, across the Atlantic Ocean, to Europe, to be used in the film, Hannover Street, starring Harrison Ford. Soon after, is when Charli’s father’s journey in aviation began. Her great-uncle purchased Streamline Aviation, which has now integrated into Emerald Airways, a regional airline, and employed her father. During this time, while flying Shorts 330s and 360s, he met her Godfather who was a Chief Pilot at Streamline Aviation. This inspired her dad to obtain his Private Pilot License while in England, but ultimately finished his training in Naples, Florida before returning back to the UK to fly for Streamline. However, he made the decision to move from the UK to Hong Kong in 1996 to begin flying for Cathay Pacific. Over the last 27 years, he has flown a variety of aircraft ranging from B747-400, A330, A340-300, A340-600, A350-900 and A350-1000.

While growing up in Hong Kong, Charli became fascinated with the idea of pursuing a career in the aviation industry, much like her father. However, she never thought she would be training in Cessnas and Diamond DA 42s, rather a helicopter. Her dream was to become a helicopter marine biologist, which she says seems “unconventional”, however she loved the idea of being in a helicopter after only taking a couple of flying lessons in them when her father was working on his helicopter license.

Charli chose PEA as her flight school, but the adjustment for her was difficult, “I moved [to Daytona Beach, Florida] because it was the perfect environment for flight training, at 17 by myself, at the peak of the pandemic and with travel restrictions, I was really homesick,” Haddican said. That all seemed to change and she met some great people in her PPL ground school and around campus, making her time in Florida and at school a lot more enjoyable. She finally felt welcomed and began settling in. Once she found her footing at PEA, she began to soar! Charli obtained her PPL in 4.5 months, became Instrument Rated in 4 months, received her CPL in 2 months, completed her CFI in just under 4 months, and finished her CFII in 2 weeks: “Now the goal would be to work at PEA”, said Haddican. She would never have imagined herself come this far in such a short amount of time, and even says that when she left Hong Kong to begin her training, she couldn’t even drive a car, but now – a year later – she’s flying planes!

The biggest piece of advice she can offer future aviators is take time with your basics, but enjoy your training! It is important to enjoy what you do. “My biggest thing is that if you’re not having fun then you aren’t going to be putting in 110% effort. Flying should be fun! Don’t get too caught up on the little things and remember that you are literally in the sky!”, said Haddican.