Member Profile: Emilie Perron

Emilie Perron, a woman with an unwavering fascination for the sky, airplanes and flight, always dreamed about becoming a pilot and perhaps even an astronaut. Still, she thought of this aspiration as audacious, almost unobtainable. At the age of 16, an unexpected flight in a Piper Super Cub with COPA 23 Flight member Ron Miller set her journey in motion.

Perron remembers that September 2020 day like it was yesterday: The impromptu invitation, arriving at the airport in her school uniform, having not planned for a flight that day, and then Miller taking her up for her first flight. This experience ignited a spark within her and propelled her on her journey to become a pilot. Embarking on her training in 2021, she passed her private pilot's license check ride just a year later, in August 2022.

What paved the way for Perron to embark on this life-changing journey? It was being awarded COPA's Neil J. Armstrong Ab-Initio Scholarship. Shortly after her initial flights, Miller and fellow pilot Bill Carswell saw the spark in her eye. They recognized her skill with the controls and eagerness to learn more during her familiarization flights. They encouraged her and helped her complete the scholarship application. When she learned she had won, she was ecstatic but almost couldn't believe it. “I called to make sure that I wasn’t just a finalist.”

“I don’t know what my life would have looked like without COPA or aviation,” Perron mused. “Without Bill and Ron’s belief in my abilities, I would never have become a pilot. I quickly discovered all that COPA had to offer and I am very proud to be a member of a club with such a welcoming group of people.”

While Perron knew that she wanted to fly, becoming a pilot cemented her aim of a career in aviation. “As a high school student at the time, I was a bit lost and looking for a path forward with my post-secondary education,” she continued. “Receiving the scholarship and pursuing my PPL, it was clear to me that I would go into aerospace engineering.”

Heading into her third year at Polytechnique Montréal, Perron continues to volunteer with COPA, sharing her experiences with friends and fellow students, attending airport events, and contributing to a team at her school building remote-operated cargo airplanes. Hailing from North Bay, Ontario, she works to finance her engineering education, a testament to her tenacity. Her active involvement in sports, particularly in male-dominated hockey, soccer, and American football, taught her how to overcome adversity. As she progressed through the pilot's training regimen, Perron's perseverance and grit only grew stronger. “Flying helped me grow into a whole new person,” she emphasized. “After that first flight, my life took a different direction, and I knew I wanted to work in aviation and, hopefully, one day build my own airplanes.” Last summer she went back to home to North Bay to fly. This year, she has plans to continue her flying journey in Montreal.

The support and selflessness of COPA members made an indelible impression on Perron, one that drives her to advocate for aviation. “I have had immense support from pilots in my life—many of them COPA members—and they have never asked for anything in return. As a future engineer and pilot, I hope to find ways to influence and modernize aviation in my work, and to continue to pass on my experience to the next generation. Being a part of some one else’s success story would be incredible,” she concluded.

As to the future, flying is a fixture, but Perron has also developed a keen interest in RPAS, Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems, which she says is a great way to be introduced to flying and for people who may have health issues and don’t have the time, money to obtain their PPL.