On Saturday, flight AA 3076 from JFK New York, touched down at the Hewanorra International Airport in Vieux Fort, at approximately 12:30 p.m.
On board was Saint Lucia-born First Officer Tevin Belasco, on his first flight into the island as a pilot since earning his wings nine years ago.
“To work this flight to the place where my passion for aviation started is a great honour. This is truly a dream come true,” Belasco wrote on his Facebook page.
St. Lucia Times has since spoken with the young Saint Lucian pilot, who shared with his us his journey from being raised by a Trinidadian father and a Saint Lucian mother in the community of Grande Riviere, Gros Islet to piloting large aircraft.
“My interest in aviation started when my mom and I used to visit my father in various Caribbean countries due to his line of work as a plumber in the oil industry,” Belasco related.
“Whether it was at home in Saint Lucia or Trinidad, on Sundays we used to go for these family drives and my dad used to stop off near the airports to watch the planes take off and land. I think my dad was also an aviation enthusiast who loved to travel and so that was the genesis of my interest in aviation,” he added.
Belasco told St. Lucia Times that during his final year at the Bocage Secondary School there was a career fair he attended and got the opportunity to intern at the George FL Charles airport tower.
“I also met Silvanus Ernest who worked at the airport and who also bought a Cessna 172 aircraft frame for US$1, which took him twelve year to rebuild,” Belasco revealed.
He recalled that it was in that very plane that he took his discovery flight, convinced now more than ever that he was truly born to fly.
After graduating from the Bocage Secondary school, Tevin Belasco studied Building Trades at Sir Arthur Lewis Community College, from 2009-2011.
It was a reluctant choice because there were no opportunities to study aviation on the island or was he able to afford going to school overseas at the time.
After leaving SALCC, he worked at a car dealership selling swimming pool equipment and wholesale goods.
Belasco took the leap of faith in 2015 to attend flight school at the Falcon Aviation Academy in Atlanta Georgia.
However, the journey was not an easy one. In 2016 he had to solicit financial assistance from the public to continue.
“It was a long and hard one which took me three years due to financial constraints, but I was able to obtain all my required licenses to become a professional pilot and also to become a certified flight instructor,” Belasco shared.
“I needed to first build 1500 actual hours of flying time before moving to the next step. So, I did that and then I got my first airline job in Houston, Texas in 2019 and then last year I got a job in aviation in Fort Lauderdale for six months. In February of this year I was hired by American Airlines,” Belasco said.
He says he intends making the airline his home for as long as he can with a desire to move up the ranks to captain.
Belasco says among his long-time goals is to establish an aviation non-profit organization to assist young people who cannot afford flight school with grants and scholarships.
He says he is passionate about the development of Saint Lucia and would like to give back some day.
Belasco says that if he had a chance to sit with the Prime Minister he would discuss prioritising education, health and infrastructure.
His message to young people: “It does not matter where you are from or what school you attended. Everyone just needs to find something that they love to do and develop a passion for it. Not everyone can become a pilot, a doctor or a lawyer. You just have to find your true calling in life and when you find it, find a mentor in that field who will help and guide you to develop your skill in that career and help you never work a day in your life. Because when you love what you do you will never consider it work. I am living proof of that; after nine years as a pilot I still love what I do and hardly consider it as work, but my passion is still there”.
In his free time Tevin Belasco says he enjoys cooking and spending time with his wife and daughter. He also loves to travel with his family.
“Believe it or not I still enjoy watching planes land and take-off too,” he told St. Lucia Times with a smile.
I love when good stories come from schools alot of parents wouldn’t want their kids to attend. We live in a society where if you don’t attend a certain 4 schools in the North you are left to feel like an outcast until you can prove yourself.
A story of love patience, determination and conquest. Wish some of those guys “sitting on the block” would take from this lesson. Nothing good comes easily.
Oh well ! Oh nice.
The reality is anyone can find their passion in something positive and meaningful and run with it – the key is taking the first step. You do not have to envy anyone just be yourself and find your OWN niche. What officer Tevin says is truth, I love his testimony – as we all have choices. As the saying goes “Rome was not built in a day”. Godspeed Officer