"Flying a plane is not like driving a car, once you're in the sky, you have to get down, you can't stop the car in the middle of the road to call for help," Huong said, after being granted her pilot's license on July 4.

Owning a private jet operator and conquering the sky on a private plane has been a two-decade dream of Huong. She said that neither age nor gender is a barrier to becoming a pilot, especially in being able to fly private-registration aircraft. However, to maintain a private pilot’s license in good standing, you must be able to demonstrate good health. In aviation, there are periodic health checks and a valid health certificate must always be carried with the pilot license when going to the airport. If your body and mind are not at their best, better to remain on the ground!

CEO Hồ Thanh Hương to take off a plane.

Difficulty in learning to land

Describing the process of learning to fly a plane, Huong said that the theory of flying a plane is not very difficult, but to achieve competency in piloting an aircraft in a short period, you have to be able to withstand and manage stress to be able to do it.

In practice, the most impressive and also the most difficult lesson for the CEO is landing the aircraft. The most challenging is Stall Recovery: the plane has no lift and the students must regain balance to continue the flight. When learning this lesson, the instructor will guide you to make the plane lose its lift and then ask you to recover.

“During a stall, the plane's nose drops and altitude is quickly lost. I could even see a grass field below. In reality, if I couldn't do it, the plane would fall from a height of several thousand feet.” she described.

As a woman, her steering is weaker than male student pilots. Therefore, it took her a lot of practice time to become proficient with landings and whenever an approach to landing failed, the instructor had to intervene, and she forgot to eat and sleep to practice from the beginning.

The limited time also makes the female CEO run around to balance her studies and work. During office hours, she was at school. Early in the mornings or during lunch breaks she checked emails and reports. In the evenings, she reviewed theory and stayed up very late to study. But in return, the subjects are very interesting, many of which she has never known before, such as aerodynamics, meteorology, human factors while flying...

To pass the exam of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, she also needs to pass a series of emergency landing tests in situations where the weather turns bad during the flight, equipment malfunction, or even engine loss.

Talking about her upcoming plans, the female CEO said that after getting her pilot's license, she will continue studying to improve her skills. She will also join flying clubs - gathering people with private pilot licenses to exchange and share experiences.

"I want to inspire young people to realise all their dreams," she expressed.