LOOKING UP: Akanksha Sharma has been awarded a two-week scholarship to Matamata’s Walsh Memorial Flying School. Photo supplied

• Howick and Pakuranga Times

FINISHING high school usually means increased independence for graduates, and former Edgewater College student Akanksha Sharma is taking her search for freedom to the upper limits.

The 18-year-old takes off for a two-week scholarship at the Walsh Memorial Flying School at Waharoa Airfield in Matamata tomorrow, which marks another step towards her dream of becoming a pilot.

Akanksha was awarded the scholarship, which covers three-quarters of the course costs, early last year and has been hanging out to get her head in the clouds ever since.

“When I lived in our small village in India, I was always fascinated with flying,” she says.

“When we moved to New Zealand in 2001, I didn’t want to get off the plane.”

She got a taste for the skies during a one-day session at Ardmore Airport in November, where she flew accompanied in a Grumman A1B two-seater aeroplane.

“I got to take off and was shown what the different dials control.

“It was overwhelming and confirmed that this is what I really want to do.”

Immediately following the scholarship, Akanksha is starting a bachelor of aviation degree at Massey University in Palmerston North.

She will have the control stick of a Cessna 150 and 152, as well as a PA38 Tomahawk, while at the flying school, but her long-term goal is to pilot jumbo jet 747s.

“I’ll be happy as long as I get to fly,” she says.

“I just love the sense of freedom it gives me.”