First name: NoémieAge: 30
years
City of origin: Chamonix (France)
Education: CPL
Helicopters: R22, R44, EC30
Start of training: September 2019
Hi, everyone! I’m back to share the rest of my experience since my training at Helicraft, and let me tell you, a lot has happened!
I don’t know if you’ve already come across my first story, but to give you a quick summary, I earned my CPL-H in October 2019 and then completed my first year as a trainee pilot with Hélicraft. In the meantime, quite unexpectedly, the pandemic brought everything to a halt for about two months, during which time we had to close Hélicraft. It was an unexpected pause early in my career, but it gave me time to think about what might come next once this year as a junior pilot was over.
Things weren't looking great because everything had come to a standstill—or at least slowed down quite a bit—but I decided to take a chance anyway and sent out résumés all over Quebec. Still, one idea had been on my mind for a while! Since I arrived, I’d noticed that social media was slowing down a bit (sorry, Ben 😉), which made me want to dive deeper into that area but also learn more about marketing with Ben.
After several discussions with Ben to see if a position might open up, my first year as a trainee pilot was coming to an end. Once we reached an agreement, I started my second year, still as a trainee pilot but also as a marketing manager. These two years of experience at Helicraft were incredibly interesting, with a great team, flight hours that continued to increase gradually, and new knowledge in the field of marketing.
We often hear the saying, “100 drivers, 100 different stories,” and as the years go by, it really starts to make sense!
When I finished my training, I thought I’d continue working in passenger and VIP transportation, but sometimes things turn out differently—and for the better.
Once my two years as a trainee pilot were over, I had a total of 400 flight hours; I didn’t have many more hours to go before I could start taking on contracts. I was hired as a ground crew member (gofer) at Heli-Inter; it only lasted a few months because they trained me on the Astar shortly after, which allowed me to start a contract at the beginning of the 2022 summer season.
My very first contract was in James Bay, in Chisasibi, in an Indigenous community—a great experience that lasted three and a half weeks. We had to transport hunters to their cabins along the bay. This was followed by contracts with Sopfeu, with a very quiet 2022 season, as I didn’t have to respond to any wildfires. Just transporting telecom technicians for maintenance on their communication towers and quite a bit of standby duty. Unlike the 2023 season, which was full of action, adrenaline, and challenges. All helicopter contracts in Quebec were put on hold to respond to the numerous forest fires. At the end of the 2023 season, I also took on a contract for geologists, which involved transporting several teams to different areas so they could determine if the terrain was suitable for drilling, collecting samples for analysis.
Today I completed my third year at Heli-Inter and reached 1,100 flight hours, and new adventures lie ahead in the coming years. I was looking for new challenges and a schedule that was a bit more flexible than in recent years. I’ll be starting at Panorama Helicopters in early 2025, with new contracts and a schedule of two weeks on and two weeks off for the entire season!
Needless to say, this is a far cry from VIP transportation, but I couldn't imagine doing anything else!
To tell you a little more about Heli Inter, the company is also located in Saint-Hubert, on Montreal’s South Shore, in the same building as Helicraft.
As you can imagine, it’s not uncommon to see Heli Inter’s Astar helicopters taking off during our training, or to run into some of the company’s pilots and managers. We also sometimes get to participate in the pilots’ annual training exercises, when they practice boarding and disembarking while hovering—a technique they use during forest fires alongside firefighters.
So you can imagine that seeing this through the eyes of students and young pilots is the stuff of dreams, but it also seems hard to get into when you don’t have much experience.
Large companies like this one have "gofer" positions, which give pilots with little experience a chance to work their way up. A gofer’s job involves repairing operational equipment at the end of the summer season, inspecting it between contracts, performing general building maintenance, snow removal, and more. This experience not only gets you your foot in the door at the company but also helps you learn how it operates and, most importantly, demonstrates that you can be trusted. At the same time (depending on the year), the company trains gofers on the Astar, which allows them to start small contracts that do not require a minimum number of flight hours in order to reach the first 500 hours and 100 Astar hours, and then begin Sopfeu contracts. Once you reach 500 total flight hours, you start to become a bit more attractive to a company.
If I think back five years ago, I never would have imagined going through all of this. It just goes to show that you should never give up and always follow your dreams to the end! With motivation, hard work, and determination, you can go far.
We'll see what the future holds for the rest of my career!