“He kept screaming, I left the flights crying. »
It happened between heaven and earth, in the tiny cabin of a Beechcraft Sundowner or a Piper Navajo. Nathan*, a student pilot at the Center québécois deformation aéronautique (CQFA), endures aggressive criticism from his instructor.
He hit objects in the cabin. I talked to my parents about how dangerous it was. Paul*, another CQFA graduate, tells us how he was paralyzed with stress, 4,500 feet above the majestic Saguenay and a few inches away from an instructor who was screaming and saying he would never be able to become a pilot.
“I still have trauma today,” says Luc*, who now flies for a major airline.
He pedaled and moved the plane up and down aggressively, trying to scare and break me. His way of teaching was violent and dangerous, Mark*, another former student, tells us.
Around thirty current and former students have placed their trust in us. Most wish to remain anonymous and we have agreed to change their names because they fear the impact on their careers in the small aviation environment where the CQFA has branches throughout.
And it’s not just skills that are under attack, many students also have to deal with misogynistic behavior from certain teachers and students.
You are a woman, it is normal that you do not know your left and your right. The comments are sexist and often rude, indecent and demeaning. At a loss, the students classify them as monocle jokes. Adjusting the propellers of an airplane is like trying to find a woman’s clitoris. This isn’t easy at first; If you argue a lot, you probably need a good fuck.
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An aviation school hangar
Photo: Radio-Canada / Jacques Taschenreau
An instructor had the idea of showing a video of women in underwear performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation in an erotic atmosphere in class. A painful moment that got stuck in Lisa*, one of the students, in her throat. Honestly, she lacked class, she sighs.
According to former CQFA students, this does not include cases of sexual abuse by students and sometimes even faculty that were poorly handled by management.
But who would dare complain about the only public school that allows young Quebecers to affordably obtain a pilot’s license with a DEC from Cégep de Chicoutimi? A dream that costs the private sector more than $100,000.
The choice is also large: 40 student pilots are selected from more than 400 annual applications for this school, which welcomes students aged 16 and over.
We are reminded very often that we should consider ourselves lucky to be here and that there are many others who could be in our place.
Current and former students we spoke to praise the work of the majority of staff, but regret the behavior of a minority of trainers and management’s complacency towards them.
Several students agreed to tell their story in a report that will be featured on Enquête this Thursday at 9 p.m. Because they want the CQFA to change without giving up its essential task of training French-speaking aircraft pilots from all social classes.
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“We have failed”
Frankly, we have not achieved the mission we set for ourselves. It really touches me.
CQFA Director Steeve Noreau knows what we’ll be talking about when he sits in front of our camera. With the Cégep de Chicoutimi he opened the doors of the CQFA to us and allowed us to film throughout the school, even in flight.
But he obviously doesn’t expect the moving stories from the pilots who graduated from his school. We have read several testimonials from former students who have struggled to develop self-confidence since their time at CQFA. Some had to consult psychologists to overcome the scars left by the shouts, insults and denigrating remarks of certain instructors.
No educational value, Steeve Noreau immediately admits. There will be no debate: what we point out to him is unacceptable.
However, there is less transparency when we go into the core of what the students complain about: the impression that their complaints have led to nothing. Given several examples, Steeve Noreau says he cannot recall the incidents in question.
He advises us that due to his duty of confidentiality he is not permitted to disclose whether any measures were taken in response to the abuse of certain trainers. He says he is still aware of the situations his deputy had to deal with at the time, but not how they were handled.
In the case of the young student whose thigh was touched by her flight instructor during the flight, allegedly to check whether she was wearing thermal underwear, Steeve Noreau has a different version of the facts.
After an investigation, we learned that the flight instructor had to apply pressure during a flight maneuver [sur la cuisse] to ensure the safety of the crew. This happened as part of class where he had to maintain pressure on the rudder. He placed his hand on the student’s thigh to maintain pressure.
The CQFA acknowledges that there are no written records of the investigation the director speaks of.
This explanation seems crazy to the instructors we consulted. Firstly, the flight instructor can verbally tell the student pilot to operate the rudder pedals and, most importantly, he also has access to the controls in front of him and can pick up the reins again at any time.
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The CQFA seen from the sky.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Jacques Taschenreau
The Cégep de Chicoutimi will take a closer look
The general director of Cégep de Chicoutimi, André Gobeil, is looking for a compromise to balance the rights of unionized teachers with those of students who feel that their complaints against a staff member have no consequences.
We must intensify training, talk about behaviors that are more appropriate, behaviors that will no longer be acceptable in 2023, says the Director General.
As in many public educational institutions, a CQFA teacher’s disciplinary record is completely expunged after one year.
If you want my honest answer: No, that doesn’t make sense, admits André Gobeil. However, there is one thing you should be careful with. I cannot impose sanctions arbitrarily without there being a counterbalance.
The director of CEGEP understands that it is difficult to balance the confidentiality of teachers’ files and transparency with students to show that their complaints have not gone unheeded.
Quebec is also considering eliminating amnesty clauses for unionized workers, particularly to prevent a recurrence of sexual harassment. In an interview with La Presse yesterday, Labor Minister Jean Boulet announced that he intends to present a bill before the end of the parliamentary session.
Meanwhile, André Gobeil from Cégep de Chicoutimi is thinking about a new way to improve students’ sense of security: the possibility of talking to a resource that we consider independent, free from influence coming from the school or others a teacher can.
* Fictional first name
With Benoît Michaud, research journalist
