Vanhoenacker was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. His father, a former priest who left his vocation, was born in Belgium.[4] His mother was born to a Lithuanian family in the United States.[5] He has an adopted brother.[6]
Vanhoenacker studied at Amherst College, before undertaking an MPhil in history at the University of Cambridge. He started a PhD programme in East African history but decided after several months that he was more interested in pursuing a career in aviation.[7] While saving money towards the expected cost of his flight training, he worked as a management consultant in Boston.[4][8][9] He subsequently joined a British Airways (BA) training programme,[8] and became a pilot of small Airbus aircraft in Europe than going on to become a Boeing 747 pilot. Following the retirement of the 747 fleet in 2020, Vanhoenacker now flies Boeing 787 aircraft.[10] Vanhoenacker is gay.[11]
Writing
Vanhoenacker is a contributor to newspapers including the New York Times and Financial Times, and news websites such as Slate, with a focus on commercial aviation.[12][13] He has written the following books:
