Blueball’s Dara turns childhood dream to reality

By Rebekah O’Reilly

A childhood love of airports and flying has taken Blueball man Dara Rosney from his local community to the cockpit of a Ryanair Boeing 737-800.

Dara, who attended Killina Presentation School in Rahan before finishing his studies in 2022, always dreamed of becoming a pilot.

“Since I was a child, I loved going to the airport. It was always my favourite part of the holiday, getting on the flight,” Dara told the Offaly Independent.

That dream became a reality this week, as Dara began his role as a Second Officer with Irish company Ryanair.

Bringing his ambition to life required years of planning, hard work and determination. Dara’s journey to the skies was support by his parents, Imelda and Damien, as well as Tullamore Credit Union.

Dara worked with Tullamore Credit Union for two years while saving towards the considerable cost of his flight training. The Credit Union also helped him secure the loan that allowed him to begin his training.

“They were very helpful and encouraging to me, along with my parents, which led to me starting my training in 2024,” Dara said.

His training proved to be both challenging and rewarding, with a steep learning curve and a huge amount of information to absorb in a relatively short period of time.

Dara said the theoretical examinations proved to be the most difficult aspect of the course.

“I always loved the flying side of the training,” he said.

Despite the challenges, Dara remained focused, having always planned to join Ryanair after completing flight school.

Securing his position with the airline was a particularly special moment after years of carefully planning the route he would take to reach the cockpit.

“It was a great feeling as a result of a culmination of years of planning and work to choose the best path to follow and how to get me into the seat of a cockpit from a point where I had no experience in aviation,” he said.

One of the defining moments of Dara’s training came during his first flight in Prestwick, Scotland, when he got the opportunity to land a Boeing 737-800 for the first time.

“Getting to land a 737-800 for the first time was a surreal feeling and hard to comprehend after years of dreaming about it,” he said.

With his childhood dream now becoming a reality, Dara is looking forward to what lies ahead.

“I’m most looking forward to flying to all the new destinations in Europe I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to go to only for this job,” he said.