A new Calgarian finds success in the sky after leaving Ukraine

Vistke was working towards his dream by being a flight attendant with the promise of getting an opportunity to be a pilot with the company he worked for after pilot school.

He was working a flight on the way to the Dominican Republic when a lot of people’s fears came true and Russia invaded Ukraine.

According to the GoFundMe page set up for him, the flight school and all the training planes were destroyed.

His father and brother, who are military officers, wouldn’t allow him to return to Ukraine with the war going on. His work set him up with a flight to Europe.

So he moved to Denmark, with his whole life, including his pilot dream, now up in the air with the terrifying uncertainty of the situation at hand.

While he planning his future, the Canadian government announced a new program for Ukrainians to relocate to Canada. Vistke applied, as he said, “Just for fun.” He had no idea what would be next for him.

Then one day he received a reply to a Facebook post from a Canadian citizen who offered him help with relocation and accommodation to Canada. Vistke explained to him that his dreams of being a pilot were crushed.

But the stars aligned. The Canadian he was in contact with is a pilot for STARS. The Canadian said he would help Vistke achieve his dreams and got the young man from Ukraine a ticket to Calgary.

He has been living in Calgary for two months now and has a job with AirSprint. He is a flight supporter. He is responsible for flight coordination, hotel and flight ticket bookings, fuel calculations, and aircraft scheduling.

He has a message for anyone in Ukraine who has seen his journey to Calgary and hopes to do something similar.

“I want to send a message to everybody who has tough times to keep dreaming and always try to do even simple things, like the Facebook posts, because you never know what kind of action might completely change your life.”