Sky-high bill for youngest pilot

Jonathan Clarke, 20, has fulfilled a lifelong dream - and acquired £50,000 worth of debt in the process.

At one point he held down three jobs, used bank loans and credit cards to pay for flying lessons and relied heavily on financial support from his family.

Mr Clarke, who left school with no A-levels, admits that it has not been easy but his ambition drove him on.

He told BBC News Online: "It was not the most pleasant thing but it has been a dream come true.

"Last year I had money problems and that was a real low point.

"I was at the point of thinking, should I give up? But by then, I had already spent £49,000 and I just thought, I'm not going to let this beat me.

"I have also had a lot of financial support from my family and I did not want to let them down."

Mr Clarke's passion for flying took off when his mother, Sallyanne Clarke, who works at Norwich International Airport, found him a job cleaning planes at a flying school.

He went on to gain his private pilot's licence at 17 and, after passing nine GCSE's, he decided to leave school and concentrate on his commercial pilot's licence.

Mr Clarke, who is an operations officer at Norwich airport, now owes £20,000 to credit card companies, £10,000 to the bank and £20,000 to relatives.

But as a commercial pilot for a major airline, he could earn up to £100,000.

He is eager to get his new career off the ground.

Mr Clarke said: "I have sent out my CVs to airlines such as KLM but I've had no job offers yet.

'Very determined'

"The airlines are being cautious about what they're investing in but I'm willing to travel anywhere to pursue my dream."

Part of Mr Clarke's training was carried out at Bonus Aviation at Cranfield, Bedfordshire.

Robert Cross, the company's operations assistant manager, said: "He was a really nice guy and very determined.

"This was something he wanted to do for a long, long time and it was nice we could help him."