Kenyan identical twin brothers Alex and Alan have warmed the hearts of many after becoming pilots at Alaska Airlines in the US.
Alan was hired shortly after finishing his simulator training, the company said on Monday, and will be based in San Francisco, while his brother Alex flies out of Los Angeles.
Growing up in Kenya before relocating to California at the age of 13, the brothers say their love for aviation goes back to when they were three years old.
As such, their childhood was characterised by frequent plane-spotting excursions with their dad every Sunday after church, as well as accompanying their mother on every business trip as they feed their fascination with flights.
Alan recounted to Alaska Air a childhood memory of their mom buying them Microsoft Flight Simulator to help support their passion.
“After I started playing with the program, that was it. I knew I wanted to do that [fly] for a job,” said Alan.
Now, the two say their dream is to fly with each other since they are yet to because of the complexity of operations in the field.
“We’ve never flown together professionally because we’ve always been on different aircraft,” said Alex, who is a first officer. “The goal is to have one of us upgrade to captain and be operating the same aircraft so we can fly together.”
When they’re finally able to fly together, there’s one special person who needs to be in the cabin—their mom—whom they credit as instrumental in fostering their love of aviation. She has, however, never flown with one of her sons. “We have to get her on one of our flights,” added Alex.
