User:Tom Loze-Thwaite
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| Thomas David Loze-Thwaite | |
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| Born | 22nd February 1988 Leytonstone, London |
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| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Student commercial pilot |
| Home town | Woodford Green, Essex |
| Religious beliefs | Humanist |
| Partner | Lee Baillie |
Thomas David Loze-Thwaite (born 22nd February 1988), is a student commercial pilot, currently living in Upper Heyford, Oxfordshire.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Childhood
Thomas Loze-Thwaite was born at Whipps Cross hospital (now Whipps Cross University Hospital) in Leytonstone, London, the son of Christopher Thwaite and Christine Loze. After his parents separated in 1989, he lived with his mother in Chingford in the London Borough of Waltham Forest for a brief time, before moving to a house in his birth town of Leytonstone, also in the borough.
Loze-Thwaite attended Mayville Junior School in Leytonstone from 1993 to 1998, before he and his mother moved to Newbury Road in Highams Park, to live with her then partner, to whom she had recently become engaged. He attended Henry Maynard Junior School in Walthamstow for the last part of the Summer term that year, before joining Highams Park School [1] to begin Secondary school.
During his second year at Highams Park, his mother and her fiancée separated, and they moved to a flat in Woodford Green, Essex, where his mother continues to live today.
In the latter part of that year Loze-Thwaite joined the ATC, and began to attend parade nights at his local unit, 241 (Wanstead and Woodford) Squadron[2]. During his time at the squadron he developed an interest in shooting, and joined the squadron team, in which he competed in a variety of regional and national competitions and won several awards. He also completed his bronze Duke of Edinburgh's Award before leaving the squadron in 2004.
[edit] Leaving education
Having studied at Highams Park for 7 years, Loze-Thwaite left education in 2006 at the age of 18, having gained 11 GCSEs and 4 A-levels, in Chemistry, Physics, Biology and Geography. He had originally planned to enrol at the University of East Anglia in the September of that year to study for an MChem, but at short notice elected to take a gap year, as he felt that he needed a break from full-time education.
In July of that year, Loze-Thwaite applied to Oxford Aviation Training (now Oxford Aviation Academy[3]), and attended a skills assessment with hopes of being offered a place to train as an airline pilot. He had been fascinated by aircraft and flying from an early age, and had wanted to become a pilot since his early teens. On completion of the two day assessment he was offered a place at the school, but his hopes were soon dashed when it became apparent that his financial situation would not enable him to pay the huge fees required to begin training. The events of September 11th 2001 had crippled the airline industry, wiping out many smaller European carriers and effectively terminating most, if not all, of the sponsorship deals available at the time and for the next few years. With no apparent prospect of sponsorship in the near future, Loze-Thwaite put his career aspirations on hold indefinitely.
Having saved no money to travel (or to contribute toward living costs at home), Loze-Thwaite began searching for a full-time job in London, in order to earn some money before going to university. In December of that year, he began his first job as a Customer Sales Assistant at a Northern Rock branch in Maddox Street, London.
In April 2007, Loze-Thwaite met Lee Baillie, an internet friend whom he had known for some time through instant messaging. They immediately struck up a close friendship and, shortly afterwards, began a relationship. Baillie is a web design consultant from North London and currently lives in Chingford, near Loze-Thwaite's home in Woodford Green.
In late spring, Loze-Thwaite received word of an upcoming deal between Oxford Aviation and NetJets Europe, a subsidiary of Warren Buffet's group Berkshire Hathaway. The deal would make it significantly easier to afford the exorbitant costs associated with training as a pilot, and so he applied immediately. After success in the first two stages of selection, Loze-Thwaite's dreams were again buried when NetJets decided to automatically cut out any applicants under the age of 21, on the basis that they were looking for more "mature" candidates to suit the executive style of their business jet operations.
However, by chance, a week after his application to NetJets was rejected, another opportunity at Oxford became available, this time in partnership with Thomas Cook. He applied again and was, this time, more successful, gaining an interview as one of the last 12 candidates in the selection process. He was, however, unsuccessful in gaining one of the six places on offer, and gave up once more.
Having seen how close he had come to achieving his goals before being rejected, Loze-Thwaite's parents took a huge financial gamble by offering to help raise the training costs and enable him to train at Oxford Aviation, despite a lack of sponsorship. Eventually, at the end of August, he was able to place a deposit with Oxford Aviation Training, and book his place on course number AP280 [4].
[edit] Training as a pilot
Loze-Thwaite began his training on the Airline Preparation Programme [5] at OAT's base on Oxford Airport, just north of Kidlington, Oxfordshire on September 25th, 2007. He completed Phase I ground training in December 2007 and achieved an average grade of 89% in the JAA theoretical exams for that phase. Having completed Phase II and sat the final theory examinations, he is currently awaiting his grade results and is due to begin practical flying training at Goodyear Municipal Airport, Arizona, on May 5th 2008.
[edit] Interests
[edit] Music
In his first year at Highams Park, Loze-Thwaite attended piano lessons at a local studio, and started working towards taking ABRSM Grade Exams. After several months the novelty began to wear off and he tired of the lessons, but with time and continued practise he gained in ability, which allowed him to play a greater range of pieces, and he began to fall in love with the instrument.
Between the ages of 12 and 17, Loze-Thwaite began to develop a keen interest in classical music, possibly as a by-product of his experimentation with newer and more difficult piano works. This developed over the course of his later teen years, and today he enjoys listening to and studying a range of classical works. He has a special fondness for the works of Bruckner, Wagner, JS Bach and Prokofiev, and especially the piano works of Rachmaninov. Loze-Thwaite has said on many occasions that, if he were to wake up one morning with any one ability of his choosing, then he would choose to "wake up and to play like Rachmaninov".
