Pilots out of their office - Liina Sõrmus

HOBBY

Liina Sõrmus is a member of the Estonian women’s national cricket team. She was introduced to cricket in middle school: ‘I remember somebody from the Estonian Cricket Association coming to our physical education class and introducing us to cricket. It was a totally new sport for all of us, and I really liked it! Cricket is very popular in the United Kingdom, India, and Australia, but not in this part of the world, so it was very interesting for me to try it. And I decided to give it a go.’ She’s been playing the game ever since.

Liina began playing for the Estonian women’s national cricket team as a junior in 2012. They went on tour to the Netherlands, Italy, and Finland, but then some of the players stopped playing for various reasons, including injuries or beginning studies at university, and the team disbanded for a while. Four years ago they resumed playing, and now the team has a full squad again. The ladies are on the road again, too, travelling through Europe and competing against other cricket teams. This summer they’ll face teams in Gibraltar, Cyprus, Norway, and Finland.

Liina confesses that she loves team sports in general. Before cricket, she played on her school’s basketball team. ‘Cricket itself is a very unique game, and I enjoy learning all the rules – and there are tons of them!’ she says. ‘Also, the game consists of two parts, it has two sides to it. One is to try to score runs with the bat, and the other one involves bowling. Thanks to these different aspects, cricket is suitable for various kinds of player personalities. I love team sports and team spirit, and our team is really amazing in that regard.’

The Estonian women’s national cricket team has 20 players, who come from various backgrounds – some work in IT, some are lawyers or new mothers, others are still in school. Liina is a pilot. It’s not easy to combine her work with cricket practices and games, but the team gives Liina training and tournament dates far ahead of time so she can request the days off or vacation time from work.

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

One evening Liina sat down with her mother to talk about her future, about potential studies and universities. They also discussed various professions, but none really appealed to Liina. ‘Then my mom kind of made a joke saying that, well, then you should become a pilot! And that got me thinking about flying…,’ Liina says. ‘After a couple of months, I decided that this was something I really wanted to do. I only recently told my mom that it was her influence that made me think about becoming a pilot and make that decision.’

 Liina graduated from the Estonian Aviation Academy in 2020. The studies took a bit longer for her and her classmates because of the pandemic, but in the end she got her diploma and started working in the operations control centre at an Estonian airline. Later, she flew Saab 2000 aircraft for another Estonian airline, but she admits that the idea of working at airBaltic always appealed to her: ‘I think all the pilots from the Baltic states appreciate working so close to home, doing what they love with a very good company. It’s a win-win situation for everybody. I also think that all of the Estonian Aviation Academy graduates look towards airBaltic and the opportunities it offers to young professionals.’

 Liina currently lives in Tallinn and commutes to Riga for work, but because airBaltic has a hub at Tallinn Airport as well, she can quite often go to work from her home in Tallinn. Liina says that her next step is captaincy, but she worked as a safety officer at one of her previous airlines and found the work very interesting as well as challenging. So at some point, she might pursue that position at airBaltic as well.