First Officer Daniel Comeau

First Officer Daniel Comeau

Boeing 777

“My dad took me to an airshow when I was seven or eight. From that day on I knew I was going to fly high-performance airplanes. I had no plan B.”

Before becoming a commercial airline pilot, Dan flew fighter jets in the military for 10 years.

Being a commercial pilot is not what most people imagine. It certainly isn't what I pictured when I was growing up in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec. I grew up riding motocross, snowmobiles, speedboats – anything that was equipped with a high-performance engine.

My dad took me to an airshow when I was seven or eight. From that day on I knew I was going to fly high-performance airplanes. I had no plan B.

I joined the military at 19 and flew fighter jets for the next 10 years. Military training was arduous, but it was so satisfying to have what I had wished for since I was a kid. At 31, with more than 3000 military flight hours, I left to join Air Canada.

It always amuses me when people say pilots don't have much to do in the air. We are always busy navigating, communicating with air traffic control, monitoring aircraft systems, weather and fuel.

We also have to manage our fatigue level at home and abroad. We often cross many times zones many times a week, which becomes very exhausting. No matter how tired I am, though, seeing the sun from the air always puts a smile on my face. There isn't a building in the world that can match the view from my office window.

My job satisfaction comes not just from the view, of course, but also from the people I interact with. Travel is intense, whether it's for vacation, business, a wedding or a funeral, or even for a championship game. For better and for worse, we pilots become part of travellers' stories.

I remember once we were carrying the Montréal Canadiens home from Boston. They had just lost to the Bruins. Nobody was in a good state of mind. The coach popped his head into the cockpit (this was back when such things were permitted) to say, "No beers for the players tonight, is that clear?"

It was just a joke, but it was also a reminder of how close the connections can be between travellers and pilots. Sometimes those connections really get intense.

In 2010, I flew to Haiti shortly after a devastating earthquake. Most of our passengers were family members about to see their loved ones for the first time since the quake. We could feel their anxiety for the whole flight.

It was shocking to see the damage as we overflew Port-au-Prince. When we landed, we found the control tower had collapsed, the airport walls were cracked and the churned-up runway provided a rough landing. While the experience was challenging, it also felt good to re-unite all those people with their families.

After 18 years as an airline pilot, I now fly as a first officer on the largest aircraft of the fleet, the Boeing 777. I get to fly to Europe, Asia, and South America: prized destinations. The job keeps changing, and like most people, we feel the pressure to do more with less.

Still, if I had to do my life all over again, I wouldn't change a thing. The hard work is worth it to live out my childhood dream.

"There isn't a building in the world that can match the view from my office window."