2. "It is my biggest dream to not only fly myself but to also help
sponsor another person to pursue their dream of flying."
My name is Eric Kaufman and all I ever wanted
my entire life is to be a commercial pilot. My
family immigrated to the UK 13 years ago in
search of a better life, leaving everything behind.
This meant for me working 12-hour shifts, 7 days
a week to support myself and my family. But I
strived to challenge my circumstance and instead
of indulging in excuses, I looked for opportunities.
My passion for aviation stems from my family,
who all dreamed of flying. My greatest role model
and inspiration have always been my great-
granddad who was one of the early aviators
participating in the Spanish civil war campaign.
For the last 10 years, I have rigorously prepared
myself on daily basis in my strive to become the
best candidate I can be to have a fighting chance
in such a highly demanding selection process.
Over the years I have passed entry assessments
to UK’s top aviation academies and airline
sponsored schemes such as CAE Oxford, L3
Harris, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic.
However, with training costs ranging between
£60k-£120k and no government or bank support
in place to finance it, talent and ambition alone are
not enough.
I found myself at a point where I can see no other
alternative other than crowdfunding my training
costs as it became apparent that I simply cannot
achieve my lifelong dream on my own without
external help.
But it would never feel right for me to ask for one-
way funds. All I ever wanted, is a loan to pay for
my training, just like any other candidate in the UK
and then repay it all as I fly for an airline. All the
money raised for my training costs as part of this
campaign will be re-donated to voted charities,
organisations and in the form of financial support
to other pilot candidates. The public has an
opportunity to support their favorite charities for
years to come through me and my pilot
employment.
Introduction
3. My key achievements:
• First time pass of entry assessments with high
marks for UK’s top aviation academies such as
CAE Oxford and L3 Harris Academy.
• Flown various aircraft such as Cessna 172 and
a Yak 18T aircraft
• Flown B737NG and B737MAX fixed simulators
achieving a one-engine-out landing according to
procedure
• Studied ATPL material, B737 Flight crew Vol1.
and Vol2. manuals and applied them into
thousands of hours of flying in a home simulator.
• During a CAE assessment in Oxford a British
Airways Captain who was the pilot skills
assessor on the day quoted me in the de-brief to
be top 3 candidates that he has ever
interviewed.
• Studied cabin crew manuals to gain an
understanding of equipment types and
emergency procedures such as NITS.
• In 2013 I have applied for the British Airways
sponsored cadet program and got through to
the second stage of assessments but was
unsuccessful due to an unfortunate illness.
• In 2017 I have made it to the last stage of
assessments, numbering 45 candidates for just
6 sponsored places out of over 10,000
applicants for Virgin Atlantic pilot cadet
program, but lost in the final by a slim margin.
Pilot Profile
“The person who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small
stones”
4. January 2020:
£20,000
April 2020:
£50,000
October
2020:
£100,000
Wings for Change C45
How does “Wings for change” GoFundMe Campaign work?
1. Every individual who wants to donate towards my training costs on the
GoFundMe website is presented with a comments section where they will specify
either my pre-set option of sponsoring the next pilot or a cause/charity that is close
to their own heart. It can be a UK cause or an International one. But, it is my
biggest dream to not only fly myself but also to sponsor another person to pursue
their dream of flying. I would like to dedicate a portion of the re-payment money to
support struggling student pilots. To select a candidate on either 6 or 12-month
basis with the help of the community and send a sum of money to help them with
their costs. To select my pre-set option a person would simply state in the
comments section – “Eric’s Option” when donating.
2. Upon reaching the specified goal, I will collate all the data and the Top 20
voted causes will be shortlisted. The donated goal amount will then be split pro-rata
between the causes based on the number of people backing each particular cause.
3. After serving my first year with an airline I will start repayments to voted
charities and organizations on a monthly basis for as long as I’m flying. As an
example, repayment of just £500 a month for 7 years adds up to £42,000 and
repayment of £1000 a month for 8 years adds up to £96,000 that can go towards
helping people around the world.
4. A Facebook group, Instagram and YouTube accounts have been set-up so
that the donor community can be kept up-to-date and engaged. All the benefactors
can expect to have regular updates on my progress, starting from the collection of
funds campaign, training, airline employment and all the way to the money re-
payment stage for years to come.
Campaign’s goal milestones:
The creation of the pioneering “Wings for Change” Campaign
came as a result of 10 years of futile attempts of me trying to
get funding for my own pilot’s license, whilst observing the
industry not come up with any innovative ways to support
underprivileged candidates despite an alarming, global
shortage of pilots. I could no longer ignore the fact that
thousands of talented and passionate men and women are
unable to enter the profession due to their parent’s inability to
support them financially. The scheme is aimed at challenging
the current way pilot training is funded, sending an industry-
wide message and spreading awareness with the public, the
government and airlines. “Wings for Change” campaign aims
to tackle the issues of diversity, equal opportunity and social
mobility in the pilot profession.
5. The Campaign Gates
GoFundMe Goal Reached Flight Training
Applying to
Airlines
Airline
Employment
Monthly
Repayments of
the Donated
Funds
Approximately 3 years
16 - 18 months 4 – 6 months 1 year
7-8 years
£100,000
£75,000
£50,000
£25,000
£10,000
£5,000
Target
Since the campaign’s launch on the 1st of October 2019, in just over a month a staggering amount
of £2,200 has been raised from the members of the public. And that is without any media support
as of yet. This cause has already touched so many people as either they themselves wanted to
pursue the dream of flying at some point or have a friend or a family member who had to give up
on their dream due to an insurmountable cost of training.
Once the goal has been reached I will need approximately 3 years to complete my flight training,
secure an airline job and finish serving my 1st year with an airline. After which I will commence
monthly repayments to voted charities, organisations and aspiring pilots for as long as I’m flying.
£2,200
Achieved
6. Security of Funds
To give donors greater reassurance
in my abilities and my resolve to
succeed. I will prepare to pass any
needed entry assessments into major
flight schools to confirm my aptitude
and preparedness before the
commencement of the course.
I will take out a “Loss of license
Insurance” with one of the trusted
providers as soon as I start
training. It means that should I
temporarily or permanently lose
my license due to medical
reasons, I will be entitled to a pay-
out with which I will re-pay the
donated funds to voted charities
as promised.
I will set-up payments for the
training on a monthly basis to
secure a portion of the donated
funds at every stage in an unlikely
event of training stopping due to
unforeseen circumstances.
Some of the academies I’m
considering have a guarantee
scheme in place. Where after
passing a skills assessment,
should I fail my training due to
aptitude, most of the training costs
will be refunded back.
My utmost priority is to protect your investment in
me. I have considered every possible extra layer of
security for the donated funds to ensure every
penny gets paid back.
7. Values Mission Vision
"Wings for Change is aiming to fund 1 pilot through training today
but has every potential to be the next platform to fund many."
• Create a crowd-funded solution to
raise funds for pilot training.
• Build an active community across
various social media platforms with
the purpose to raise funds and spread
awareness.
• To gather 10,000 signatures for the
government petition to trigger a
response from the parliament.
• To send an industry-wide message
and spread global awareness with the
government and airlines about a
broken funding system. And by doing
that, bring attention to a plethora of
passionate, capable, yet
disadvantaged individuals and give
them a voice.
• For the community to come together
every 3-6 months and crowd fund a
new GoFundMe campaign to finance
an outstanding individual through
training.
• To actively challenge current lack
of equal opportunity, diversity and
social mobility in the pilot
profession, so that one day every
person, regardless of their
socioeconomic status has an
opportunity to pursue and to
achieve their dream of flying.
Excellence
To never settle for
anything less than the
highest standard.
Passion
To be in love with the
magic and the
wonder of flight
Persistence
To never give up, an
aircraft always takes
off against the wind
not with it
Justice
To fight inequality and
to promote diversity,
equal opportunity and
social mobility
Wings
for
Change
8. Thank you so much for taking the time to read about the “Wings for Change”
campaign!
Please consider covering this story to make a passionate, young man’s
dreams a reality. Additionally, It would mean the world to me and thousands
of underprivileged people in the UK who are struggling to achieve their
dream of flying, if you could share this presentation with as many of your
contacts in the media and the industry as you can. To spread the
awareness and drive a positive change in this beautiful profession.
If you would like to contact me for any clarification before you cover the
story, or about a collaboration that could benefit this campaign such as an
event, a charity gala or a press meeting where I can talk about the wings for
change campaign and rally support and collect potential donations, please
e-mail me on: wingsforchange@hotmail.com
I’m always looking for opportunities to have a face to face meeting, and I
would love to meet you in person too. Please, don’t hesitate to contact me
with your availability so that we can set up a lunch and an Interview.
GO SocialGO Social
