Making a dream into reality… Captain Ryan Dhanraj is a ‘Special Person’

Dec 20, 2020 News

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By Shervin Belgrave

Kaieteur News – While growing up in Garnett Street, Kitty, Georgetown, a four-year-old boy by the name of Ryan Dhanraj had a dream. That dream was to use the skies to travel the world.
An author once wrote that the only difference between a dream and reality is action. Indeed Dhanraj chose to action his dream. To some, Dhanraj’s dream might have been a bit farfetched but he was determined to make it a reality.
Today, at age 33, he is part of an elite and prestigious group of pilots employed at Delta Air Lines. Dhanraj is also among the youngest of the airline’s employees and, at age 28, he might have been the youngest pilot to fly a Boeing aircraft.
Notable too, he has been able to achieve his dream to the point that he has already travelled the world via the friendly skies.
There is no doubt that having travelled to more than 50 countries across the globe, Dhanraj has many captivating tales to share. Although the pages of this newspaper are not nearly enough to share these, this article is intended to tell you, though concisely, just how Dhanraj made his dream come alive and at such a young age making him eligible for our title of ‘Special Person’.

 

 

UPBRINGING
Dhanraj was the last of four children born to Harold and Chandra Dhanraj on July 30, 1987. He was the baby of the family and of course his elder siblings spoiled him. His parents, however, ensured that he was well disciplined and began educating him from a very young age.
“It all began at age four or five, I think,” said Dhanraj as he recalled falling in love with airplanes and started dreaming about flying “a very, very big one” some day.
Dhanraj’s parents and siblings too, played a vital role in motivating him to make his dream a reality.
“As a child, my toys would be airplanes, even my birthday cakes were designed as airplanes,” he said as he recalled, “even my school projects would be about airplanes.”
As a child, Dhanraj realized that if he wanted to accomplish his goal of flying an airplane, he had to dedicate himself to study and attain good grades.
So at age 11, back in 1999, when he was a final year student at the St. Margaret’s Primary School, he sat the Common Entrance examination. He earned 551 marks and was awarded a place at Queen’s College. Of course that made his entire family very proud.

It was a new beginning at high school, a period where many adolescents tend to become distracted with the excitements of teenage life.
Although Dhanraj was probably tempted too by the distractions, with support from his parents, he stayed focused on making his dream a reality.
“My parents enforced positive discipline, they would ensure that I was not wasting my time with frivolous things,” he recalled.
Moreover, he disclosed, they kept instilling in me that possessions, money, material things can be taken away from me but an education cannot be taken away. With these words echoing in his mind, Dhanraj fell in love with studying and continued firmly on the path to transforming his childhood dream into a reality.
He became a deputy head prefect at Queen’s College and eventually graduated in 2004, passing his CXC exams with multiple distinctions. He gained nine grade ones and two grade twos but he was not done yet. Dhanraj returned to Queen’s College where he completed his A levels exams and graduated as a valedictorian in 2006.

 

FLIGHT SCHOOL
By the time he reached the age of 18, Dhanraj was one step closer to living his dream. It was time for flight school and he was off to Florida in the United States, where he got enrolled in the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University at Daytona Beach.
He started his flight training at the age of 19. In 2010, Dhanraj was filled with emotions since he was finally qualified to fly; his dream was swiftly becoming a reality.
At age 23, he was not only flying planes but teaching others to fly as by then, he was a professional flight instructor.
His career started out on an illustrious path with him even being considered a gold seal flight instructor. The title gold seal is a prestigious label given by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to flight instructors whose students past rate is 80 percent and above.
The following year (2011), he graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Aeronautical Science with minors in advanced Meteorology, Aviation Safety, Air Traffic Management and Airline Dispatch Operations.
At this point, Dhanraj was still not done with his studies. He sought to educate himself a little more and began flying Embraer-175 jets.
That was one step closer to flying that “very, very big airplane” he’d dream of.
In 2013, he was successful in obtaining his Master’s Degree in Aeronautical Science and also completed programmes that allowed him to specialise in Education Technology and Airline Operations/Human Factors.
As he continued the march towards the reality of his dream, he finally got a chance to fly a Boeing aircraft. In 2015 at the age of 28, he became part of the Delta Air Lines’ prestigious fleet of pilots, flying a Boeing 767.
Meanwhile, his love for books pushed him to educate himself even more. In 2016, he completed a Master’s in Business Administration at North Eastern University, specialising in Marketing and International Business.
Motivated to go a little further, Dhanraj went on to receive certification from John Hopkins University in human factors in the areas of health care and patient safety.
The young Guyanese pilot received yet another certificate in artificial intelligence and business strategies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

LIVING THE DREAM
Today, as a well-qualified pilot and so much more, Dhanraj is living a dream that has become a reality. In fact, one can even conclude that he is living in the friendly skies.
“Every flight I make is different, there is always that adrenaline rush, every time I enter the cockpit,” he said.
“The scenery in the sky is breathtaking, up there, you can see the entire curvature of the earth…oh my, the Northern lights in Greenland is even more spectacular from the skies. The sunset and sunrise is so wonderful, man, you cannot really appreciate beauty of this planet until you see it from the skies,” he added.
Throughout his still young career, Dhanraj has already clocked many flight hours.
He has flown from Indianapolis to New York. He has landed Boeings in the Islands of the Caribbean and has even touched down in Brazil and other parts of the world.
Apart from flying, he is also living the dream of travelling the world. A conversation with Captain Dhanraj these days would leave you wanting more. He can effortlessly tell tales of his expeditions to Ghana, Senegal and other African countries where he even assisted with teaching students.
A conversation with him would sound like this: “Man, Dubai is beautiful, but nothing can beat Thailand, the culture there is rich, the people are very hospitable. Oh, have you seen the lost city of Petra in Jordon, it’s one of the wonders of the world.”
Dhanraj’s excitement would then tone down a bit and he, with nostalgia, would say “but no place is better than home; I miss home, I miss Christmas at home, yes the Phagwah, Diwali and Easter…”
In response to my searching questions such as: ‘What’s next? Will you continue to study? Will you go on more adventures, or will you settle down and start a family?” he had this to say.
“You know what, I have not yet taught about starting a family that will be some time soon, but yes I want to continue studying and go on more adventures, I am not done yet.”
In a passionate tone, he spoke of being able to turn his dreams into reality. This of course prompted me to enquire about what could spur an individual into striving for such great achievements. To this, he said, “If the passion is there, then give it a try. Remember, most people think the sky is the limit, but it is just the beginning.”
As Dhanraj continues to take action in making his dreams a reality, his advice to others, is “follow your passion and make your dream a reality, it’s never too late.” For making his dream a reality, today we at Kaieteur News are pleased to name Dhanraj our ‘Special Person’ of the week.

 

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