Getting to Know Your Youth Engagement Committee – Michael Cooper

To help our community get to know us a little better, we’re featuring Q&As each month about each of our team members. You can read about the whole team and check out who is behind all of BCAC’s exciting Youth Engagement projects here: https://www.bcaviationcouncil.org/youth-engagement-committee/

Name: Michael Cooper
Age: 36
Current Occupation: Commercial Pilot in Training / Ramp Handler – FedEx Express
Previous: Crew Scheduler – Porter Airlines / Flight Attendant – Air Canada

Porter Airlines Bombardier Q400.
YTZ. Toronto, Ontario. 2018.

What inspired you to first get into Aviation?

My parents separated when I was young and my father moved to Ontario, later settling permanently in Quebec City. My brother and I grew up in Vancouver with our mother and stepfather spending summer and Christmas traveling west to east on the wings of Canadian Airlines and Air Canada. The airplane ride became the highlight of these trips for me. Unaccompanied minor travel has changed since the 1990’s but I remember an incredible feeling of freedom when I would travel, on my own or with my brother under the care of flight crew on airliners.

What has been the biggest challenge transitioning from the flight attendant world to the pilot world?

I have been flexing a completely different corner of my brain in flight training. When I began flight training in 2018, I had been out of post secondary study for 11 years, working primarily in hospitality and in- flight service at Air Canada. It was an abrupt awakening. The technical side of flight training was challenging. Becoming a student again was tough.

Favourite airplane?

Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Honourable mention, I am waiting to travel on the Airbus A350, I might be changing my mind.

Favourite flying memory?

Cross-Country building time for the Commercial Pilot licence (CPL) with my BCIT classmate, Clayton Gaber, in the summer of 2019. Over the course of 50 hours spent together in Cessna 172’s, we saw almost all the corners of British Columbia. Flights included: 1) Boundary Bay – Castlegar – Cranbrook – Grand Forks – Salmon Arm – Boundary Bay. 2) Boundary Bay – Campbell River – Lillooet – Port Hardy – overflying the west coast of Vancouver Island including Tofino and Victoria – Boundary Bay. 3) Boundary Bay – Bellingham and south into Oregon with stops on the way – Boundary Bay.
Unless I get my own airplane one day, I expect to never again enjoy such incredible adventure in a general aviation airplane.

Favourite place to travel (in a non-covid-19 world)?

New York City or the beaches of Thailand.

What is it like balancing flight training while raising a family?

At the height of my flight training, pre-covid-19, my wife was still working as a flight attendant, typically doing super long haul 4-5 day trips to Australia out of Vancouver. I would drop our then 3 year old daughter at daycare on the way to 0800 ground school starts. Single parent life until Daisy would return from her pairing. Those were the most challenging stretches of days! I am so grateful to my wife for supporting me. We are an incredible team. We make it work. Choose your partner wisely! Our son was born in December 2020, we are adjusting and continuing to move forward, now as a family of four.

What would you do in life if you were not in the aviation industry?

I would love to be working in the art world. A position that requires a lot of travel obviously!

Why did you join the Youth Engagement Committee?

I love the idea that we are reaching young people dreaming of a career in Aviation. I hope if you are one of those young people, that you find inspiration and motivation in the work we are doing here on the committee. My mentors came later in life, perhaps you will find them sooner than I did through the YEC. I joined the YEC hoping to connect with others like me. Passionate people working in aviation, motivated to find more people to join us.

Any advice for those just getting into Aviation?

Twenty years ago, a senior military official and pilot visited my air cadets squadron fresh off course where he had earned a type rating on the Boeing 747. He said to us, a group of avgeek teenagers in crisp ironed royal navy blue and polished black boots, “If you can dream it, you can do it.” I still remember his voice. I keep telling myself a similar mantra these days. Step by step. Whatever it may be that you dream of doing, give it your best shot. “You miss 100% of the shots you do not take.”
Aviation is exciting. If you are reading this, you are obviously interested. Go with that. Find mentorship, reach out and ask questions. Chase your dreams.