Flight examiner Carlos Mari (right) congratulates new pilot Sherrbert Dorbeck. Photo courtesy Sherrbert Dorbeck.
ST. EUSTATIUS--Sherrbert Dorbeck returned to St. Eustatius with his pilot’s licence on Friday. He was greeted by a warm welcome from family and friends at F.D. Roosevelt Airport.
Dorbeck left the island in November to obtain his pilot’s licence at Isla Grande Flying School in Puerto Rico. He is the fourth person in his extended family to obtain his pilot’s licence.
Dorbeck is the son of Curdy Lewis and Herman Dorbeck. His excited mother could hardly contain her emotions as she saw her son walk through the door of the airport terminal.
Dorbeck obtained his flight licence as a private pilot. Brandon Martinez is the name of the flight instructor who trained him, and Carlos Mari was the flight examiner who administered the test.
When Dorbeck was four years old, a pilot from Dutch airline Transavia came to his school to talk about his job as a pilot and that is where Dorbeck’s interest in becoming a pilot really sparked.
The dream of becoming a pilot also ran true for Dorbeck’s uncles Kenneth and Garnett Leerdam, as well as his cousin Aaron Leerdam, who obtained his flight licence in 2016.
Captain Kenneth Leerdam first started flying in 1981 and Garnett Leerdam started flying in 1984, and the family has another aspiring pilot: Machir Brice.
