Katarzyna Kasprzycka

Aviation has always gone hand in hand with sport in my life. Since the very beginning, I have always been sure which direction I should follow. The first person who raised my excitement for aviation was my uncle, who as a paragliding pilot used to take me to an airfield and when I reached a suitable age, I immediately enrolled first on a paragliding course and then a gliding one. Therefore, a decision to study ‘aeronautics and space technology’ was an obvious choice for me. Despite the fact that it is a very demanding field of studies, I didn’t abandon my second passion, which is a sport. When I was a child, I always spent my free time with my brother on a football pitch. After some time I started practices in an amateur football team participating in the Polish women football league and in winter, I changed cleats for hockey skates. The time of studies was quite difficult because I had to combine studying with practices, but the every-week journey between Krakow and Rzeszow didn’t disturb me in any way. Moreover, there was even a time when at one weekend I played two ice hockey games and one football game, and after the weekend I was taking part in the exam session.

After my studies, when I was looking for a job, I took into consideration both – an aviation branch and a passion for the sport. Gdansk hit the bull’s-eye. Here, in the beginning, I continued my career as a football and ice hockey player, but with time, I focused only on one of them i.e. the winter sport. As it later turned out, it was a good decision because during my first season I already got appointed for a Polish National team and the following year brought other individual achievements (appointed for Ice Hockey World Championships and for Winter Olympic Qualification Tournament), as well as a team success (Polish Champion, and another Vice-Champions). From the career progression perspective, Jeppesen turned out to be a perfect place for combining aviation and sports passion. Apart from daily responsibilities as a Navigation Information Analyst, I also have an opportunity to run Aviation Academy classes as well as taking part in various initiatives connected with aviation. Suitable working hours along with support from the managers enable me to practice regularly as well as attend Polish National team camps. Gdansk turned out to be a perfect place to reach higher and higher, both in sport and in my second passion, which is aviation. Although I didn’t manage to become a professional pilot, Gdansk allowed me to reach the clouds.