Meet Camille, a student on the Ingénieur programme, selected for the French Young Pilots’ Air Tour

What inspired you to take your pilot’s licence when you were a teenager?

Ever since I was a child, I’ve dreamed of being an airline pilot. When I was 13, my grandmother took me to the local flying club and that inspired me to start the PPL course. My parents offered me an initiation flight and asked the instructor to move the plane around a bit, thinking I’d get over it! But when I took the controls, I loved it. My family supported me and I started taking lessons. I got my PPL when I was 17.

Did you enter ISAE-SUPAERO with the idea of becoming a professional pilot?

I made my choices for Parcoursup in the middle of COVID. At the time, pilots were being made redundant by the airlines. So I looked for another way to study something to do with aeronautics. I went to a PCSI/PSI* preparatory school in Paris with one goal in mind: ISAE-SUPAERO. It was the only school that interested me! I tried hard for it and today I’m really happy to be there. With my engineering degree, I’d like to contribute to green aviation. It’s important if we want to continue to practise our passion. But I’m also keeping my dream in mind and would like to get my instrument rating once I’ve got my degree.
 

Are you able to reconcile your flying activities with your courses at ISAE-SUPAERO?

Absolutely! As I already have the PPL, I haven’t been able to take advantage of the Supaéro’s aircraft, which are reserved for training students preparing for the certificate. But I joined the Claude-Chautemps flying club, which is right next to the ISAE-SUPAERO hangar on the Toulouse-Lasbordes airfield. At lunchtime, I get on my bike, ride to Lasbordes and go flying.
 

Tell us about your selection for the Tour Aérien des Jeunes Pilotes...

I signed up for the selection in January. There were 110 of us. For the first phase, I had to define a route based on constraints. I then had to complete a 2-hour flight using a GPS tracker so that the FFA could check my route. At the end of this navigation test, there was a handling test. The second selection phase took place over a weekend at a CREPS, with theory, navigation and group tests with a problem to solve, and an interview on camera. At the end, there were 45 of us. I met up with Jordan Goncalves, who is in his final year of the Industrial Engineering apprenticeship programme, and Alexandre Iché, who has just graduated and did his PPL at ISAE-SUPAERO.

Out of 45 pilots selected, only six of you are young women. Do you see yourself as an ambassador for women pilots?

I think that girls censor themselves more and I want to combat that. Through my experience, I want to show that it’s important to be there, that everyone is capable of becoming a pilot! For the TAJP, I was sponsored by the Association des Femmes Pilotes, which contacted me without my even having to make the effort. I was really pleased.

What will you take away from your TAJP experience?

First of all the human side, which is much stronger than I’d imagined. When we fly, we can all hear each other on the same radio frequency. We share this adventure together, both in the air and on the ground, and I’ll always have great memories of it. It’s also an incredible learning curve for the pilots. We’re in daily contact with our aircraft. I’ve never flown so much in so little time. I’ve now flown 170 hours!