Matthew MartinoFounder & Managing Director – Lets Fly Academy
Matthew Martino is a British entrepreneur, film producer and author. He has always held a passion for writing and his first book Lets Fly was well received by pilots and aviation enthusiasts around the world. His second book, GO FOR IT focuses on the “tough decisions you have to make as an entrepreneur and will take you on a journey through the highs and lows of a being your own boss”. Matthew shows all the qualities required to maintain proven success and has lived in his hometown of Bulawayo in Zimbabwe and in Brentwood, UK.
Matthew, what brought you to flying? What is your story? I had a love for aviation from a young age and I grew more an more in love with flying, I began by plane spotting then went on to collect model aircraft and after that I knew I had to get into an actual plane and make it happen, not a minute goes by I don’t think about flying. I’m just a little gutted that I can’t do it as a career but it’s still quite a cool hobby being able to fly around.
Can you tell me what you perceive as THE achievement of your life and why? I think for me my biggest achievement by far was getting the Lets Fly brand together, this started by me writing the pilots´ manual Lets Fly which I managed to get published. I then mysef designed and encoded the Lets Fly App, which went on to be sold on IOS AppStore, and after that I was able to form the Lets Fly Academy which has to date given advise and information to over 20,000 aviation enthusiasts and aspiring pilots. I really want to help others realise the beauty of flying.
I know that you are a published author… at quite a young age 🙂 … how does that feel? Whas it difficult to write that first book? Yeah I managed to get published at when I was 19 and that came as a shock to me as 7 editors had already turned me down. It feels good having some published materials out there and I think I’ve inspired some of my friends to write. It was tough, yes, as I was writing a non-fiction so there are certain ways of writing and I had many editors and book publishers telling me to change 101 things which can be annoying.
Many people experience fear of flight. How can one deal with it? Fear of flight is said to be a ‘mentality’ thing by professionals, however, hypnotherapists have actually called it something to do with lifestyle and one’s surrounding. It can be dealt with by seeking professional help, not paying attention to news reports on plane crashes etc., and not thinking about it. I personally had fear of flight and still do to some degree, sometimes when I go to fly I just pretend I’m going on a train journey.
Any words of wisdom for aspiring pilot wannabies? I would advise pilot wannabies to go for it, I’ve heard all excuses under the sun like ‘I’m old’, ‘I don’t have money’, ‘I’m a woman’ – anyone can be a pilot , even with some underlying health conditions you can seek medical advice but you could get cleared for some degree of flight. Flying is the most amazing thing I’ve ever done, hope to one day have a law that says everyone must have 5hrs of flying hours on their license.
Thank you for your answers, Matthew.
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