{"id":152295,"date":"2023-03-22T16:55:35","date_gmt":"2023-03-22T15:55:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=152295"},"modified":"2026-01-16T16:37:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T15:37:25","slug":"alumna-virginia-verburg-wanted-to-become-a-chartered-accountant-but-now-gives-flying-lessons-in-the-royal-netherlands-air-force","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2023\/03\/22\/alumna-virginia-verburg-wanted-to-become-a-chartered-accountant-but-now-gives-flying-lessons-in-the-royal-netherlands-air-force\/","title":{"rendered":"Alumna Virginia Verburg wanted to become a chartered accountant, but now gives flying lessons in the Royal Netherlands Air Force"},"content":{"rendered":"

Virginia Verburg studied Business Administration and Accounting and Control. Nonetheless, she decided to follow her adventurous side. She became a military pilot and is now a flying instructor in the Royal Netherlands Air Force.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Virginia in the training aircraft Pilatus P-7 Turbo Trainer.<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLevien Willemse<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

It is a 5-kilometre drive from the guarded entrance, where a historical T-33 jet fighter is displayed on a roundabout. Virginia Verburg (34) drives past army buildings, an airfield and through a section of forest to her workplace. Here, on the edge of Woensdrecht Air Base, there are about fifteen glossy black planes with bright yellow stripes in which Virginia teaches students to fly. They are called Pilatus PC-7 Turbo Trainers: stepping stones on the way to military aircraft and helicopters.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not the kind of workplace you would expect from someone who wanted to become a chartered accountant. \u201cMy neighbour was a chartered accountant, so I came into contact with the profession early on\u201d, she says. \u201cAnd in secondary school, I already liked economics and maths.\u201d As a result, she started her Bachelor\u2019s in Business Administration at the EUR in 2006 and obtained her Master\u2019s in Accounting and Control here in 2010.<\/p>\n

Physically demanding<\/h2>

But the dream of becoming a military pilot already arose during her Bachelor\u2019s degree. \u201cMy Bachelor\u2019s programme was so impersonal that I felt like a number\u201d, she says. \u201cI looked around and wondered: what else is there?\u201d Her adventurous side \u2013 she loved motorcycling, skydiving and diving \u2013 already led her to apply for training as an Air Force officer at the Royal Military Academy in Breda during her Master\u2019s degree.<\/p>\n

\"\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>

Virginia wears fire resistant clothing on the training aircraft.<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLevien Willemse<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

But she knew that the chances of being accepted there were small. Even at the flight training in Woensdrecht, which Virginia had to take after the academy to become a military pilot, students sometimes fall by the wayside. She therefore applied for a chartered accountant job with a company at the same time, and was accepted. \u201cI thought that if it didn\u2019t work out with the Air Force, at least I would have something else going for me.\u201d But after a number of tests she was admitted to the academy in 2011, where she trained as an officer over a period of one year.<\/p>\n

Her time at the military academy was \u2018very enjoyable and educational\u2019, but also \u2018took some getting used to\u2019 and was \u2018physically demanding\u2019, she says. The first six months were \u2018green\u2019, as it is known at the academy: a physically intensive period. Running in a military uniform with a heavy backpack, sleep deprivation, setting up camp in a forest and keeping watch at night were all part of her training. Virginia: \u201cBut I had a dot on the horizon and that\u2019s what I focused on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Overwhelming<\/h2>

That dot came closer when she passed her flight training in Woensdrecht in 2013, and then learned to fly the Apache combat helicopter within a year during follow-up training in the United States. Her first flight was \u2018very overwhelming\u2019, she recalls. \u201cFlying feels so inaccessible at first, but anyone can learn how to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t
\n\t\t\u2018Flying feels so inaccessible at first, but anyone can learn how to do it\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

After all her training, her dream came true: she could call herself a military pilot. She became an Apache pilot at the Gilze-Rijen Air Base, where she trained for conflict situations on a daily basis. In 2016, she was sent to Mali for three months. Here, together with her colleagues, she was the \u2018eyes and ears of the United Nations\u2019. It was a \u2018very unusual experience\u2019, but she can\u2019t reveal more about the mission.<\/p>\n

And this mission was her first and so far also her last, because in 2019 she became a flight instructor at Woensdrecht Air Base. \u201cI find it very valuable to educate people\u201d, she says. \u201cI realised that when I was a student assistant at the university.\u201d<\/p>\n

Twiggy<\/h2>

Now she flies in the black and yellow teaching planes with students almost every morning and afternoon. On the side of the room where the planes are standing, behind a door with a sign stating \u2018Access prohibited for unauthorised people\u2019, she picks up her flight equipment. Here, there are helmets with oxygen masks, backpacks containing parachutes and dark-green fire-resistant clothing. Against the wall, there is a cardboard cutout of Tom Cruise in the film Top Gun. \u201cVirginia \u2018Twiggy\u2019 Verburg\u201d, says a patch on her flying suit. \u201cEveryone gets a nickname here\u201d, she says. \u201cIt\u2019s a name that suits you and that others give to you.\u201d The tradition also remains behind closed doors: she can\u2019t explain exactly why she is called Twiggy.<\/p>\n

\"\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>

Virginia shows her backpack with parachute.<\/span><\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>

After the necessary preparations, Virginia goes up in the air with a student for more than an hour. She sits at the back, the student at the front. The steering wheels \u2013 they are called \u2018flight controllers\u2019 \u2013 are interconnected, \u2018just like in a car at a driving school\u2019, she says. And both are held in place by seat belts that could be compared to the belts in roller coasters that whisk people upside down.<\/p>\n

She calls teaching students to fly \u2018really enjoyable, but also serious business. \u201cFlying can have disastrous consequences if you make a mistake\u201d, she says. \u201cIf we\u2019re flying high in the air and the student lowers the plane even though that wasn\u2019t the intention, you won\u2019t hit anything. But when you\u2019re landing, you can\u2019t afford to do that. I\u2019m more involved at that time, and sometimes I take over the control of the airplane.\u201d Thankfully, she has never needed to use the parachute.<\/p>\n\n\t

\n\t\t\n\t\t
\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Read more<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t