Secunda pilot says it is never too late to live your dream

SECUNDA – Mr Christoff le Grange (40) is literally in the clouds about his job.

He is living his dream of being a commercial pilot and flight instructor.

This owner of the Aviation Junction flying school at the Secunda airstrip has recently passed his Grade III instructor’s course.

“There are flight instructors at the flight school, but I believe that one should also be a qualified instructor when you own a flight school,” he explained.

Mr Le Grange wanted to be a pilot as far back as what he can remember. He grew up on a farm in Bothaville district in the Free State and flying was then just a far off dream.

“My father’s cousin owned an airplane and I was fascinated by it. I also loved building model planes.”

Mr Le Grange was in his final year of Bcom law studies at the University of the Orange Free State (Kovies) when he decided that he would rather be a pilot than a lawyer.

He packed his bags and left for England in a pursuit to make enough money for his pilot’s licence. His first job in England was as a carpenter in Leyton, London.

“It was quite something for me to suddenly communicate in English.”

Mr Le Grange spent four years in London and only returned home once during that time to obtain his flight licence.

He built up his flight hours in Nottingham.

The young pilot’s wings were clipped however, when he returned to South Africa and was forced to begin working in the industrial sphere.

“I had little time to fly and I had to build up flight hours to get my pilot licence up to date.”

This eventually realised, because Mr Le Grange refused to give up on his dream.

He was still very much fixated on becoming a commercial pilot when he relocated to Secunda in 2012.

He then worked for Top Fix for several years during which he finally did earn enough to pay and build up hours for his commercial pilot licence.

He married Ziné 10 years ago and they named their first born, Amelia (6), partially after Amelia Earhart who was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

The couple also has a one-year-old son named Stephan.

Mr Le Grange eventually took the plunge and exchanged his steady job for a life in aviation in 2017 when he opened the Aviation Junction at the Secunda Airfield.

“The older you are, the harder it is to take such a risk and make a career change, but I do not at all regret this move.

“I realised the need in the market for a flight school. Today the school has more than 40 students.”

His instructor’s higher grading included 80 hours of presenting and applying 20 hours of pattern classes to grade II inspectors.

Besides the flight school, Mr Le Grange also flies chartered and broker flights, he is the private pilot of several businessmen in the area and he helps organise one of the best speed flight rallies in the country.