When picturing a future pilot, many imagine a young graduate straight out of high school, chasing their very first career. And while that is true for many students at the airBaltic Pilot Academy, the reality is much more diverse. For some, aviation becomes not the beginning, but a bold new chapter.

Since the academy’s launch, 323 students have joined to pursue their dream of flying. Among them, 50 were over the age of 30—people who already had established careers as dentists, marketing specialists, business analysts, mechanics, engineers, or architects. Each of them chose to step away from familiar ground to start again, driven by a passion for aviation.

One such story belongs to Kalvis Lesiņš, who joined Group 21 in February 2024. Unlike most of his classmates, Kalvis didn’t come straight from school or university. His journey began on water, not in the skies.

For more than 20 years, Kalvis worked in the shipping industry, most of them on chemical tankers. Step by step, he built his career—from trainee to seaman, and eventually, to captain of a tanker ship.

“Probably, there comes a decisive moment in everyone’s life,” Kalvis reflects. “For me, it was realizing that I didn’t want to be a ship captain until retirement. Working at sea had exhausted me. I needed new challenges.”

That realization wasn’t immediate. He even considered switching to an office role in his shipping company, but the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the plan. A hockey injury later gave him unexpected time to think—and that’s when he discovered that the Pilot Academy was opening applications for early 2024.

“I thought about it for a couple of days and decided to apply. I passed the tests and interviews, and I was in. Looking back, I believe it was the right decision. I was searching for new challenges in life, and I found them.”

Today, Kalvis is well into his training. He has nearly finished his theoretical studies and has already logged about 40 hours of flying [The interview took place in May 2025]. The experience, however, hasn’t come without effort.

“When I started training, it wasn’t easy—I hadn’t studied actively for almost twenty years. There’s a lot of information to absorb in a short time. Honestly, it was harder for my family than for me, since my studies took away time together. But after a few weeks, I got used to the pace.”

Like all students, Kalvis remembers his first flight experiences vividly.

“The first time the instructor simulated a landing without an engine, I thought: you really need ‘guts’ to do this. He calmly told me that in a few lessons, I’d be doing it myself. The biggest nerves came before my first solo flight—with less than 12 hours of flight experience, suddenly everything depended on me. But the moment you realize you can land safely, the anxiety disappears.”

Studying alongside younger classmates has also been unexpectedly refreshing.

“Most of my group members are ten or more years younger, but maybe that has made me feel a little younger myself too,” he smiles.

For Kalvis, choosing aviation hasn’t just been about switching jobs—it has been about proving to himself, and to his three sons, that it is never too late to learn something new.

“I can safely say that I haven’t regretted my choice. The training has opened a new perspective and allowed me to challenge myself. Whenever someone asks why I changed my profession so drastically, I tell them that I want to be a double captain.”

Kalvis’s story is a reminder that the path to becoming a pilot is not one-size-fits-all. At airBaltic Pilot Academy, every student—whether just starting out or changing careers after years of experience—shares the same passion for flying, even if their journeys to the cockpit are completely different.

Because in the sky, it doesn’t matter when you start—it only matters that you dared to.