One of Air France’s youngest airline pilots, Sétoise Lucie Tost took off on the flight of her dreams

Lucie Tost returns very often to meet her family and friends in Sète. When she is not there, she is an ambassador of Brassens, tielles, zézettes, jousts and Saint-Clair. Free Midi – Patrice Espinasse

The youngest airline pilot at Air France, the Sétoise woman has established herself with determination in a very masculine world. At 26, she is fully living a passion born at the age of 8. For those inspired by her journey, exploring Private Jet Jobs can offer similar opportunities to turn a passion for aviation into a fulfilling career.

Travel is his second home. After Sète, of course! At 26 years old, Lucie Tost has already discovered many more countries than the average traveling mortal in a lifetime. And for good reason: she is an airline pilot. New York, Miami, Pointe-à-Pitre, San José, Dakar, Seoul, Tokyo, Seattle, Abidjan, Dubai: since December 2023, long-haul destinations have been coming one after the other.

Lucie Tost’s history with aviation began early. From the age of 8, when her parents took her on a trip, she only had eyes for these devices. “I asked all the time to go into the cockpit and often, I was taken. When I was old enough to wonder what to do, it came naturally. I had this passion in me. I was scientific and not at all literary. And my mother’s best friend was an airline pilot herself. I had an approach to the environment which made me want it even more.”

A little luck, hard work and a lot of determination

La Sétoise then took action. And when Lucie wants it, she gets it! Very quickly after her studies at Esma Montpellier and meticulously prepared interviews, she landed her first position at Ryanair, at the end of 2018. “A little luck, some work and a lot of determination”, she explains. She was only 21 years old and was the youngest pilot in France. It’was “that and nothing else”.

She is still the youngest at Air France, when, at 23, she joins its subsidiary Transavia, in August 2021. Aboard the Boeing 737, which will remain her favorite plane, and now the 777, Lucie Tost takes the steps one by one. And lives a waking dream seeing northern lights and rainbows, flying over Mount Fuji, Mount Blanc and Greenland, sometimes seeing the moon then, turning his head, the sun…

Already incidents, diverted flights

Above all, she fully lives her passion for piloting with “the adrenaline of takeoff and even more of landing& ;quot;, a daily life where routine never enters. “There’s more than just travel and landscapes. There are also the crews, always different, from different backgrounds and cultures.”

Stories, anecdotes, Lucie Tost has already amassed a few: flights diverted due to illness or weather, management of a collision with a school of fish; birds departing from Madrid…

But also, sometimes, comments from passengers linked to the image of a very masculine profession. The “Ah, it’s really a woman who is in front ?”, she had the right to it, sometimes. “Blonde and young too, there’s nothing wrong!”, smiles the Sétoise. Who takes it with hindsight, also sometimes collecting congratulations and admiring remarks.

This is my chauvinistic side: I am proud of this city, of the tielle, of the jousts, of Mont Saint-Clair…hellip;

Become a pilot, join a company then the company of your dreams, start in long haul: the logical next step, for Lucie Tost, will be to become a captain. One day, no doubt.

With this rare journey, one might believe that Lucie Tost is now far away from Sète, from her family, from her friends. On the contrary, she returns to it as soon as she can. “It’s my haven of peace. When I hear the water and the birds, when I see the sunset at the Drawbridge, I know I am there. And when I’m not there but I hear Brassens, I flaunt my Sète origins. This is my chauvinistic side: I am proud of this city, of the tielle, of the jousts, of Mont Saint-Clair…”

The singular island holds its long-term ambassador. And long-haul.

A profession that is still very masculine

Women airline pilots around the world still represent less than 10% of all airline pilots working for airlines. Even though their numbers have increased; in recent years, and even if for example he has progressed; by 71% in the United States between 2002 and 2022, we are still very far from parity.

In France, progress is real but it remains slow. As of January 1, 2023, Air France had 356 female pilots, or 9.2% of the company’s pilot workforce.

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