{"id":10005,"date":"2026-09-24T09:21:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T09:21:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/skyborne.com\/uk\/?p=10005"},"modified":"2026-09-24T09:28:32","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T09:28:32","slug":"trainee-spotlight-connor-cunningham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skyborne.com\/uk\/news-events\/trainee-spotlight-connor-cunningham\/","title":{"rendered":"Trainee spotlight – Connor Cunningham"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Name:<\/strong> Connor Cunningham
Course:<\/strong> UKCAA Integrated ATPL<\/a><\/p>

Connor is currently in his flying phase of training out at our fair-weather base in Vero Beach, Florida. We caught up with Connor to find out how his training is going…<\/p>

What has been your favourite moment of training so far?<\/strong>
“My favourite part being out in Vero has been completing my qualifying cross country (QXC) and flying across the state on my own. It was the point where everything started to feel real. Being fully responsible for the flight, making decisions independently, and navigating solo showed me how far I\u2019d come.”<\/p>

What did it feel like to earn your second stripe?<\/strong>
“It felt like a real milestone. Getting my second stripe made all the hard work worth it, from ground school to every hour spent flying. It was a moment where you can step back and see the progress you\u2019ve made.”<\/p>

What are you most looking forward to next?<\/strong>
“UPRT (Upset Prevention and Recovery Training) is what I\u2019m most excited about. It\u2019s a chance to step outside the usual structure of training and really explore what the aircraft can do. It\u2019s different, more hands-on, and something I\u2019ve been looking forward to for a while.”<\/p>

What has been the most challenging part of training so far?<\/strong>
“The MEIR (Multi-Engine Instrument Rating) phase has pushed me the most. It\u2019s challenging, but that\u2019s what makes it enjoyable. It\u2019s where everything steps up, and you\u2019re constantly developing your skills. It\u2019s also shown me I\u2019m capable of more than I thought.”<\/p>

How would you sum up your journey so far?<\/strong>
“It\u2019s been challenging, rewarding, and constantly progressing. Every phase builds on the last, and you can see yourself improving step by step. The key is putting the work in and trusting the process.”<\/p>

Start your journey<\/strong>
If you\u2019re serious about becoming a pilot, the Skyborne Integrated ATPL programme<\/a> offers a clear, focused route from day one.
Register your interest<\/a> today.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Connor is currently in his flying phase of training out at our fair-weather base in Vero Beach, Florida. We caught up with Connor to find out how his training is going…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":10009,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crosspost_to_2":false,"_crosspost_to_4":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,1,22],"tags":[51,67,41],"skyborne_region":[19],"skyborne_type":[36],"class_list":["post-10005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academy","category-airline-services","category-pilot-pathways","tag-commercial-pilot","tag-integrated-atpl","tag-pilot-training","skyborne_region-united-kingdom","skyborne_type-hear-from-our-trainees"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/skyborne.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/skyborne.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/skyborne.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skyborne.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skyborne.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10005"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/skyborne.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10021,"href":"https:\/\/skyborne.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10005\/revisions\/10021"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skyborne.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skyborne.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skyborne.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skyborne.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10005"},{"taxonomy":"skyborne_region","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skyborne.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/skyborne_region?post=10005"},{"taxonomy":"skyborne_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skyborne.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/skyborne_type?post=10005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}