The story of an aeronautical engineer

When asked by a teacher during his final year in primary school what he wanted to become in the future, Victor Kiplimo Biwott confidently replied “a doctor.” But when a classmate answered “aeronautical engineer,” Victor’s interest was provoked. He tried repeating the words but could not even pronounce them well. For the next few weeks, Victor found himself obsessively rehearsing and reciting the words “aeronautical engineer.” Following an intensive study regimen in secondary school, Victor graduated with an impressive overall “A grade” in his KCSE exams. While celebrations of his incredible achievement were ongoing, two career paths battled it out in his mind: aviation and medicine. Aviation won. Victor sent his application to 43rd Air School in South Africa and qualified. But when he received the fee statement, things went south. A statement from his mother still lingers in his mind. “Son,” she started, “even if we sell all our belongings we won’t be able to afford this fee.” While recovering from this disheartening setback, Victor discovered that The Kenya Polytechnic University was offering aeronautical engineering for the first time. He wasted no time and enrolled as part of the pioneer class and ended up graduating with a second class upper degree. Fortune was on his side. Immediately he found a vacancy in an aviation company and was hired as a personnel planner. His duties included setting up logistics for the engineers going to outstations and tracking their training records. This role was unsatisfactory to Victor’s technical mind. Thus in 2017, Victor joined 748 as a junior planner. After undergoing training in aviation quality, technical records and maintenance planning, Victor was promoted to senior planning engineer. In 2019, Victor was sent as a technical representative in a delegation consisting of various 748 staff conducting a C-check in Malta. This was the highlight of his career. Having interacted with engineers and maintenance personnel from over 50 nationalities and gaining a comprehensive understanding of the entire maintenance process from logistics to cost aspect, Victor came back to Kenya professionally reborn. A week into his return, a pleasant surprise dawned on him. He was promoted to Head of Engineering at 748 Air Services. Victor now oversees a team of three planners, a reliability engineer and an intern. Together, they determine the safety and flight readiness of our fleet.