5-year-old boy instantly spots error in pilot training manual that only pilots are trained to catch
Finding the error got William Hines a VIP tour of the Southwest Airlines training facility in Dallas
Children have some pretty interesting answers when they are asked what they want to become when they grow up. William Hines wants to be a pilot, and he might be on the correct path. At just five years old, he has developed a deep interest in aviation. When his pilot friend, Josh, gave him a training manual, five minutes after looking at it, he pointed out a discrepancy, reported KGNS News. A video covering William's story was also shared on ABC News Live's (@abcnewslive) Instagram account. The video reached 946,000 views, 31,600 comments, and 193 comments.
Spot the difference
William's mother, Amber Hines, told the news outlet that her son is "very mechanically inclined" from a very young age. His love for aviation began when he and his family took trips to the Rocky Mountain Metro Airport. However, it was his friendship with Josh that intensified his interest in planes and flying. After spending two hours with the pilot talking about charts and aviation, Josh gave William a training manual as a souvenir.
A zooming error
A few minutes after looking at it, William said, "I discovered that two terrain monitors did not match. They did not match at all. One side’s farther and one side’s closer." His mother elaborated on the difference William saw, "One was very, very zoomed out, while the other one was zoomed in. He was able to identify the fact that these should look the same, but they looked different because one was drastically zoomed out from the other one."
VIP treatment
When Amber shared William's story, she did not expect it to go viral. The CEO of Southwest Airlines heard about it and invited William and his family for a private tour of the training facility in Dallas, as per Next 9News. William got to meet different team members, including a simulator pilot, and even had the chance to sit in the flight simulator, a core memory indeed. Later on, Southwest cleared the air that there was no discrepancy in the manual, but they were impressed that a boy of his age would catch something like that.
'He notices things'
Amber proudly added, "What 5-year-old knows that? Newly minted 5-year-old. But I also know that he’s a details guy, and he notices things. He listens to everything, and he really absorbs information." When asked about becoming a pilot, William did not doubt it. The reason why he wanted to become a pilot was that he wanted to "transport people to a place and not just myself, like 140 people to a place," he told the news outlet.
Children and their dream jobs
Children and teenagers develop different interests at a young age, which can influence them in choosing a career later on. A YouGov survey conducted in 2023 found that teenagers today expressed interest in jobs that did not even exist a generation ago. For boys, the majority wanted to become professional athletes (12%) when they grew up. Some were also interested in becoming a professional streamer/YouTuber (11%), a musician (6%), a professional gamer (6%), or a doctor/nurse (5%). The majority of girls, on the other hand, wanted to become nurses/doctors (13%). A few others wanted to become actresses (11%), musicians (8%), artists (7%), and YouTubers or streamers (6%).
Kid is about to be headhunted by airlines
People in the comments praised little William for noticing the difference. @longdazed commented, "Buddy is going to have airlines sending headhunters for him when he gets out of flight school. Get the bag, lil' bro." @8gm_9_ humorously added, "This is what they mean when it says 10+ years of experience."
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