In this month’s series on Big Dreams, Small Steps, we want to encourage every young person to be bold to pursue their dreams!
Featuring Sher Yuan, an SP Alumnus and RSAF pilot trainee, hear his journey of perseverance and passion in reaching new heights, quite literally.
I’ve always found aviation to be fascinating. As a young boy, I was attracted to airplanes and loved the liberating feeling that flying brought. It is a curious feeling that is hard to describe, and that curiosity brought me wanting to learn more about aviation.
After school, I liked to read books about different kinds of aircraft and airships, and loved watching programmes like ‘Top Gun’ and History Channel’s ‘Dogfights’.
I remember when my family brought me to the National Day Parade once. Watching the fighter jets streak past into the clouds was a turning point for me as I got to see the cool stunts, which I had only seen behind a screen, being done right in front of my eyes. From then on I told myself that one day, just maybe, “I will be in their numbers”.
How did you make steps towards your dream?
In secondary school I joined National Cadet Corps Air as I wanted to be in the aeromodelling team. Aeromodelling is an activity of building and flying model airplanes, and I liked the creative aspect it brought to me.
Sher Yuan during an aeromodelling airshow in his secondary school's uniform group parade.
After going through a selection phase and being accepted, I trained hard with my team for the annual competitions. It wasn’t easy, but we still managed to win awards for our school. Eventually I trained juniors and was given more responsibilities, which turned out to be difficult to handle at times.
After my O-Levels I decided to study Aeronautical Engineering at SP to follow my passion and pursue further opportunities. I thought that the A-Level examinations were too rigid and it did not allow me the freedom to pursue my goals.
I even joined the aeromodelling club as my CCA because eh, why not, looks like fun! At every stage in my student life I certainly felt I was getting closer to my dream.
Eventually after getting my diploma and serving my BMT I applied to become a pilot with the RSAF, and being accepted as a pilot trainee certainly is a step closer to what I could only dream of as a boy, to be in their numbers.
What are you currently doing now?
Sher Yuan during his air grading course after his first flight.
I’m currently a pilot trainee undergoing what the air force calls the ‘Air Grading Course’ in Australia. It is a 6 week intensive selection process where potential RSAF pilots are selected based on their ability to handle an aircraft in a high stress environment. Hence, a sharp and resilient mind is needed.
Lots of preparation and studying for theory of flight and map knowledge is also required, and this knowledge must be put into good use once up in the air.
As a military pilot it is important to keep fit on a regular basis, and it helps if you know how to swim for the water survival drills. This is in the event your plane malfunctions midair, and you eject into the ocean.
It certainly is a tough course, and there is a real fear of being ‘chopped’ from the course every time you take to the air, like failing a test. True to my instructor’s words, military flying is a “high performance sport”, but then again with every sortie (Combat mission of an individual aircraft, starting when the aircraft takes off), I always felt a certain sense of freedom with every flight, especially when you are in control of the aircraft.
And yes, to debunk the myth, you can be wearing glasses and still join the air force or become a pilot, so long as your myopia is not beyond 500-600 degrees and if you are willing to undergo eye surgery (PRK or LASIK) to correct your vision!
One interesting thing about being a pilot in the air force is that you will be given a callsign or ‘nickname’ by your fellow coursemates. It can range from mild ones like ‘sneaky’ to very bad boy ones like ‘gangster’, so you can only imagine what they have probably done to earn that callsign.
Were there any setbacks or moments you felt like you’ll never be able to reach your dreams?
There was a period of time when I doubted if I could even qualify for the pilot training phase. I was bespectacled from a young age, leading my parents and I to believe that it was impossible to become a pilot, much less a military pilot with the Air Force, so I lost faith in the dream.
In poly, I wanted to join the Singapore Youth Flying Club (SYFC) but practical reasons such as wanting to focus on my studies kept me from pursuing this avenue. Furthermore, the requirements to be selected are numerous as an applicant needs to go through a 4 hour long COMPASS test (a psychometric test designed to test a candidate’s aptitude, intensive aeromedical checkups (a healthy heart, correct height and posture and undamaged eardrums are important, and lastly facing an interview board (showing passion and interest helps in passing), and this really made me doubt if I could ever reach my dream of flying a real aircraft.
Also, the long days and weeks spent overseas can make you feel homesick at times, now made worse with all the quarantine measures in place due to the pandemic.
What kept you going?
The encouragement and support from my friends, coursemates and family gave me the strength to keep going and to overcome the obstacles right down from the initial selection phase.
With every flight I felt that I had accomplished something which I previously could only dream of doing, from the first take off, to the aerobatics loops and rolls as I slowly progressed through the training.
My family was also supportive of my decision to sign on to become a pilot, and my parents even took time off to ask around and guide me through each stage of the selection process. Luckily there is now a thing called Zoom and voice call which helps to make the long days away from home feel shorter.
Having friends who share the same interests and their support definitely helps too as some of my close friends shared with me more about life in the SYFC, and they really helped to make me understand more about the requirements and criteria expected from the air force.
The team spirit of my coursemates such as sharing how well we performed during our flight and assisting one another in ‘mental flying’ really inspired me to give my best and do the same. Doing sports such as badminton, swimming and cycling also really helped too as I felt it allowed my mind to stay focused.
What would you say to someone who feels like their dreams are beyond their reach?
Be brave, take on the challenge of climbing the mountains early on to pursue what you want to do. I made the challenge of trying out to become a military pilot regardless of the outcome and my experiences in AGC were some of the best moments of my life, so set off—and you will be satisfied and happy that you are able to achieve something you might not have dreamt of from the start. Let your passion guide you through your journey.
