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Eléanor (TBS 2023), 19 years old and already a private pilot!
Air Cadet and private pilot at only 19 years of age, Eléanor Sohier prefers to be in the sky, but keeps her feet planted on the ground.
A short shirt with shoulder pads and, a scarf as a tie, the 19-year-old woman is impressive. She is questioned, not without admiration, about her outfit, her colleagues, and getting a license from the Beauvais flying club. "I just got back from Switzerland!” she announces, anticipating the questions, and everyone congratulates her.
Eleanor Sohier is an Air Cadet, one of the oldest aeronautical institutions in the world. Like her, more than 550 young people, including 18 French, took part in a two-week international exchange this summer all over the world. The goal was to learn about the aeronautical history of a foreign country. This is a source of pride for the young pilot, who has already participated in several air raids in the past, notably in Argentina and Senegal.
From introduction to flying to a vocation
At the aeroclub, which an extension of the Beauvais airport, Eléanor is well-known territory. She has been going there since she was 14, learning how to fly small, light, two-seater planes. “My parents didn’t know what to get me for my birthday. They looked at the unusual gifts and settled on an introduction to flying session. After 30 minutes in the air, I asked for another hour or two.”
Since then she has flown 350 hours, and is officially a private pilot, which allows her to fly anywhere in Europe. It would almost seem like a lucky chance if the bright-eyed brunette didn't look as if she was made for it.
When she was only 17 years old, without no driver’s license but a pilot's license in her wallet, the teenager would use a plane to go see her friends in Amiens. After all, she says, "It’s one way like any other to get around”.
Sharing the taste of the sky
After a getting a science bac at the Lycée Jeanne-Hachette in Beauvais, Eléanor flew to Lille where she attended a preparatory class for business school. In September, she will leave the North for the Pink City and attend Toulouse Business School. A course that will take her where ever the sky takes her.
"I'm not someone who parties a lot. I like to work," said Eléanor, without hesitation. She doesn’t take any breathers, not even during the summer holidays. The young scholar began her training in order to become an airline pilot, but what Eléanor she prefers doing is sharing her passion.
Flying, a children’s game
“It’s not so much a matter of skill as it is a matter of human connections,” she - who has already flown a dozen novices - explained. “You have to have absolute confidence to let the little ones fly,” said the young woman from Beauvais, who hopes that the experience is child’s play.
Sitting in her “somewhat outdated” Piper Aircraft, she points with simplicity and with instruction to all components of the instrument panel. Afraid? She doesn’t feel that much while in the air. “I’m much more afraid driving a car than I am flying a plane,” she explained. For her the threat would likely come from below. Not to mention that the profession is mostly male. “I won’t let myself be treated like a doormat,” says one who respects the sky.
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