Zino Aviation Takes Off With Pilot Masterclass

Mary Nnah

Aspiring pilots from all over Nigeria assembled in Lagos at the high-end Legend hotel by Hilton for Zino Aviation’s first in-person Pilot Masterclass. The event was hosted by Captain Zino Mario-Ghae, CEO of Zino Aviation who guided the aspiring pilots step by step on the A-Z of becoming a commercial pilots.

The event was sold out and the venue couldn’t have been more suitably chosen as the hotel, which is also a Private Jet Terminal, overlooked multiple air crafts taxiing, taking off and landing. The setting aptly captivated the hearts of these future pilots and set the tone for the Masterclass.

Zino Aviation is a Pilot Training, Aviation Management and Consultancy firm based in Lagos, Nigeria. They provide flight training and mentorship services for aspiring pilots as well as Logistic Management Services for airlines, governments and organisations seeking to train groups of pilots. They take students from knowing nothing about aviation all the way through their entire training abroad and then provide them with employment services and job opportunities on their return.

Over four eye-opening sessions, lasting from 9-5 pm, Captain Mario-Ghae taught these aspiring pilots everything they needed to know about what their journey would entail before, during and after their flight training.

Guiding them step by step, he comprehensively lectured on areas such as Pilot Licenses, Type Ratings, Career Options, Fight Schools and how to avoid being taken advantage of by schools. A key segment of his teaching focused on how to make flight training more affordable as he taught unique ways to drastically reduce flight training costs as well as student living costs.

The final session of the day was interactive and gave these aspiring pilots the opportunity to ask Captain Mario-Ghae all their questions regarding aviation. This enabled them to clarify any misconceptions and receive tailored advice to their situations.

An attendee Chioma Onochie said: “This Masterclass is one of the best things that could happen to any aspiring pilot. Captain Mario-Ghae imparted tremendous knowledge to me in ways that have really enlightened me on my journey to being a Pilot. He made me realise there are different types of Licenses I could acquire and went further to teach about things I never really had enough knowledge on.

I learned the best schools to go to as well as what to do before, during and after flight school. Captain Mario-Ghae is wonderful and has a desire to impact knowledge onto others. I see greatness in him and in what they are doing at Zino Aviation.”

Another young aspiring pilot, Mathias Bamigboye said, “The Masterclass was an eye opener, before I went for this masterclass, I was confused about piloting but the masterclass gave me clarity. I learned a lot about how to choose a flight school, mistakes student pilots make and much more. Captain Mario-Ghae is someone you would love to mentor, he wants the best for his students. I would recommend this Masterclass to aspiring pilots who don’t know how to go about this pilot career.”

Mario-Ghae is an experienced Pilot with several thousand flight hours. He became a licensed pilot at just 18 flying both planes and helicopters in Nigeria and the UK. He retired from flying at 26 to focus on helping aspiring pilots through his company Zino Aviation. He spoke to us about how Zino Aviation bridges the knowledge gap and offers solutions that tackle bad decision-making among aspiring pilots or organisations seeking to train them.

“As a Pilot Mentor and Aviation Consultant, over the years I’ve seen people make some extremely costly mistakes simply due to of a lack of knowledge. There is nothing more expensive than ignorance. Training to become a Pilot is a difficult and expensive venture yet most people proceed on this journey unguided and with surface-based, often incorrect, information. Consequently, we’ve seen many of these student pilots suffer, spending unnecessary amounts of time and money on their training, often unable to secure employment afterward. This isn’t just an issue with individuals, but we’re also seeing it with State Governments and Parastatals attempting to train pilots. They often attempt to run flight training programmes themselves and end up wasting significant resources due to uninformed decision-making and a lack of expertise. We even saw a group of over 30 pilots trained by the government return with incomplete licenses and incomplete training. How can they possibly get employed? All of this is easily avoidable and these are some of the many problems we are providing solutions for at Zino Aviation”, he said.

Zino Aviation is currently setting up an office in Lagos to accommodate their expansion and provision of aviation training and consultancy services. They now provide Pilot Assessment, Pilot Recruitment services and Logistic Management Services for airlines and governments.

“It’s definitely been a good year for us. We’re growing and our services and clients are increasing. We recruited pilots for a major airline this year, secured employment for our students and have entered into conversations to run cadet training programmes for airlines. We’ve already gotten a commitment from one of Nigeria’s largest airlines to train their cadets in the future. Everything from selecting and assessing the best candidates, to conducting their flight training and pre-employment training will be handled by us. I’ll personally be mentoring these cadets throughout their training to ensure they are well equipped and supported throughout their training.” Captain Zino said.

Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder of Zino Aviation, Temisan Mario explained that

“Due to all the moving parts involved, training large groups of pilots is often stressful and problematic for organisations seeking to train them. That’s why our Logistics Management services are designed to handle all our clients’ needs, eliminating error, and mitigating the risk of failure. By managing all the logistics, we give our clients peace of mind knowing everything pertaining to their flight training programme is being handled by experienced professionals. 

Zino Aviation previously operated out of their UK base and serviced Nigerians remotely however with the opening of their Lagos office, they are launching a host of new services to further aid aspiring pilots and service key stakeholders in the aviation industry.

Zino Aviation is revolutionising pilot training on the African continent through their masterclasses, mentorship and consultancy services. They have quickly become the reliable point of contact for all things pilot training.