"Ever since I was a child, I was fascinated by planes, " he said. "My grandfather's best friend was a pilot with Aer Lingus, and when I was younger I got to sit in a cockpit during take-off and landing. It was a little bit intimidating, sitting between these two pilots in the jump seat, but it was also amazing, seeing them working with all the instuments and buttons. I absolutely loved it."

Ricky had already been bitten by the flying bug, and at the tender age of 13 (even before his airline cockpit experience) he had his first flight at Leixlip, in a Cessna 152. There must have been something in the water in the late 1980s when he was born . . . no fewer than five of his class from the Institute of Education have gone on to train as pilots. But even he could not have guessed, as he began studying accountancy in NCI, that he would soon be flying the same type of plane within a year.

"I really only went to college while I was looking at flight schools, " he said. "I had been looking at a lot of schools, and I had considered flight training in Oxford, Spain and America, but I actually had a lot of friends in these schools, and they sort of scared me away.

These schools were not offering the full package, in the way that the school here was, and I definitely made the right decision . . . since I came here, the training has been amazing."

The training in question has been provided by Pilot Recruitment International (PRI), which offers flight training through an air base in Ontario, Canada at a former Royal Canadian Armed Forces and NATO base. And, from the moment he set foot on the base, Ricky fell in love with the lifestyle.

"Canada has been more than I expected, " he said. "I want to stay here."

A major part of the reason for these positive sentiment has been the flying itself. He began life on a Cessna 152, before moving up to a 172. And he is not just using these planes to fly up and down the length of a runway.

"The most interesting part was probably flying to Toronto, " he said. "You see more of the world from the cockpit of a small plane, much more that you would see from a car. For Toronto, we flew cross country for about two hours, and flew over the North of the city to land in Toronto City Centre Airport, which is on an island beside the CN Tower.

And, when we flew to the Capital, Ottawa, we flew next to the parliament building. It's pretty spectacular stuff."

So, never a dull moment, then?

"Well, the groundwork can be quite difficult, but I don't really mind it, " said Ricky. "It all goes towards the same end result, which is to become an airline pilot.

It's just something that we have to do. When I studied accountancy, I never really wanted to do it, but here I have an interest in all the aspects of the course . . . and because you are doing your ground school while you are learning to fly, you get to put all the theory into practice."

While airlines will be the ultimate goal, Ricky still has to decide what to do with his immediate future. His ambition (at the moment) is to fly a Boeing 777, which he travelled in on a flight back to London . . . although, as he admitted, "any plane, for any airline would be nice."For now, most of the signs point to a stint as a flight instructor at PRI Academy, allowing him to build up his flying hours and also to stay where he is really enjoying life at the moment.

"It's great to be among all the lads, the majority of whom are from Ireland, " he said. "The atmosphere here is great, and the school and programme are very family oriented . . .everybody helps out."