Aviation has always fascinated people, but Sébastien Léopold never imagined that his two children would one day become pilots like him.
“It wasn’t my dream, but it’s freaking fun, for example!” he throws.
The father, 53, was privileged to be alongside his daughter Stephanie, 27, as she took her first Air Transat flight earlier this month. The Montreal-Toulouse trip will stay with you forever. “Dream job!” exclaimed Stephanie on Facebook.
Stéphanie Léopold and her father Sébastien on their first flight for Air Transat on August 3rd. Photo courtesy of Stéphanie Léopold
Sébastien assures that he has not made any special effort to encourage his children to follow in his footsteps. “When I came home, I didn’t arrive in light aircraft. I didn’t say, “It’s great to do this for a living!” No, not at all.”
The thought of becoming a pilot preoccupied 26-year-old Charles-Antoine as a teenager. “It’s not bad that I had the courage in 3rd secondary school: that’s what I will do in life,” he says.
“You didn’t tell me!” Sebastien replies, laughing.
A Cessna that has served us well
In 2014, at the age of 17, he began his flying lessons at the Aéro Loisirs school in La Macaza, in the Laurentians, on a Cessna 150 that belonged to his parents. Five years later, his sister would do the same.
“Two pilots were trained with the plane, that was good,” says Sébastien happily.
Stephanie’s journey was a bit more winding. When she was little, she dreamed of becoming an astronaut. She finally chose biology when she enrolled at the University of Montreal.
“I liked the bio, but I saw what happened next,” she says. His brother had started training as an airline pilot a few months earlier. Like so many young people, she wondered if she had made the right choice. After one semester she left the university to start her pilot training.
“I didn’t see it coming at all,” Sébastien swears.
The next few years will not be easy for Stéphanie.
“There are harder times when you don’t see the end of the tunnel,” she says. I had to devote myself fully to my education, which meant I didn’t have a lot of time with my friends and family.
It criss-crosses the American sky
Her first job as a pilot took her to western Canada and the United States, where she flew a small aerial aircraft.
“I flew north to south and south to north until I ran out of fuel!” She laughs. Stéphanie then spent four years as a pilot in northern Canada.
For his part, Charles-Antoine, after working for Air Inuit for five years, completed his first flight with Air Transat last November, also alongside his father.
Destination Cancun: Charles-Antoine Léopold (right) on his first flight for Air Transat, with his father Sébastien, in November 2022. Photo courtesy of Charles-Antoine Léopold
“You go to the toilet and when you come back you open the door [du poste de pilotage] And your son is sitting on the right, that’s funny!” Sebastian points this out.
One thing is certain: his two children do not regret their career choice.
“When I go to work, I’ll have fun,” concludes Charles-Antoine. I always have fun. Flying the plane as such is super cool. Also, when you arrive in Europe, for example, we visit each other, eat at good restaurants and have a good time.
Still few women and young pilots
- Number of pilots at Air Transat: 675
- Percentage of female pilots at Air Transat: 5% (world average is less than 4%)
- Proportion of young people: 20% of Air Transat pilots are under 35 and 51% are under 45
- Salary of a pilot at Air Transat: from $60,000 (on entry) to over $225,000 (for a commander at the top of the career ladder)
- Number of flight hours required to apply for a pilot position with Air Transat: 1500 (compared to 2000 hours previously)