He was four years old and barely potty trained, but Derek Anderson, 25, had already decided what he wanted do with his life.

"I can remember the exact moment," he said. "I was at nursery school and I reached into the big toy bin they had and pulled out a yellow and blue toy prop plane. "I picked it up and looked at it and I just knew that I wanted to fly planes."

According to Mr. Anderson, the rest was history. He and his family moved to the Bailey's Bay area when he was five.

"From the house in Bailey's Bay it is easy to see the planes arriving and departing from the airport," he said

"I would often just lie in the yard for hours staring up at the sky. And I remember getting really excited every time a plane flew overhead."

His next profound aviation experience happened when he was 11. That was the age he played the popular and realistic Flight Simulator video game for the first time.

"I already knew that I wanted to be a pilot by that point," he said. "But when I played Flight Simulator, even though it isn't real, I got to see how all the instruments work and what it is like in the cockpit that was it."

Mr. Anderson graduated near the top of his class at the Berkeley Institute in 2000.

He spent the following two years at the Bermuda College.

There he traded his dream of flying for a job he thought would better pad his bank account. Albeit briefly, he studied to become an IT specialist here, and at a school in Massachusetts. He eventually realised that he wasn't happy.

Remembering the enthusiasm he had towards flying as a child, he decided to pursue his dream of being a pilot again.

Mr. Anderson graduated at the top of his class at Massachusetts' Bay State School of Technology.

He then he headed north to study aviation at the Sky Wings Aviation Academy in Alberta, Canada. He spent three years at Sky Wings where he learnt the ins and outs of flying.

"Ninety percent of the training at Sky Wings is done in a plane," he said. "The rest of the practical training is done on a flight simulator. We use the simulator for practising things that would be unsafe to attempt in a real plane like emergency landings."

At Sky Wings he gained the necessary certification to fly private and commercial planes.

He became multi-engine ready and earned certification allowing him to fly at night. He also took a business management course at neighbouring Red Deer College which, upon completion, provided him with an Aviation Management Diploma.

He eventually left Sky Wings on the recommendation of fellow Bermudian aviator and flight instructor Tariq Lynch-Wade, and continued his studies at the Daytona Aviation Academy in Daytona, Florida.

Next week Mr. Anderson takes the Instrument Flight Test. If he is successful, he will become fully certified to fly in the United States and Canada.

"Stressful isn't the word to describe this test," he said. "I will be at school for twelve hours a day leading up to this test.

"My days are filled with studying complicated flight books, using the flight simulator and getting as many actual flying sessions in as I can.

"My business management final was a cakewalk compared to this."

Mr. Anderson's plan is to eventually start his own company. "I think that there could be a good market for private plane service in Bermuda," he said. "It would be like a flying limo no one would be telling you when to leave, no long security lines, and nine out of ten times we could fly into a small airport closer to a destination than most large airports."

Once he is certified, the Rastafarian may have a unique claim to fame that could work to his advantage.

"I have been dubbed by many people as the first 'Rasta' pilot," he said.

"People think that because I look a certain way, I can't be a pilot but my dreads don't change my ability to fly a plane. I am a pilot and I say it with pride, my dreads are just part of who I am."