The aviation area is so fascinating that even those who never thought of working in it end up giving in to its charms when they have a little more intimacy. Cynthia de Lacerda knows how it is. This Helisul operations analyst was “bitten by the bug” of aeronautical sciences a few good years ago, even before entering university.
The first experience in aviation was as a flight attendant, in that phase of transition from adolescence to adulthood. Cynthia juggled school with work at a doctor’s office. But why start the course in the area? To this day, she still doesn’t know how to respond.
“At the office, a woman commented that she was a flight attendant. I found it interesting. I did it just to do it, I didn’t want to be a flight attendant. I actually didn’t know what I wanted,” she says with a laugh. “I did and things started to happen. When I saw it, it was already flying”, reveals the operations analyst.
The first job, still on dry land, was as an intern at the check -in from the defunct Rio Sul Linhas Aéreas. At that time, Cynthia was already in the faculty of Aeronautical Sciences with qualification for Airline Management, at Universidade Tuiuti do Paraná (after dropping out of a recently started Executive Secretariat course at the same institution).
Shortly afterwards, at a time when Rio Sul’s operations were taken over by Varig, the opportunity arose for Cynthia to change jobs and join an airline that was about to be launched in the Brazilian market.
“I took my resume to a commander at Gol Linha Aéreas and they called me. It was right at the beginning. We opened at the Curitiba airport. I worked for a year or so at the airport and then I went on a flight”, he reports.
Cynthia says that, despite not being a dream, she loved flying and working as a flight attendant. Parallel to the work, came a relationship, a marriage and a pregnancy. And Jessica was born.
A baby on board… and everything changed!
With the arrival of the only daughter, priorities changed and the profession began to be less pleasant. The routine of travel and overnight stays away from home began to weigh on the heart. After the girl’s birth, Cynthia lost interest in working as a flight attendant, due to the difficulties she faced as a result of constant periods of separation and distance.
“After she was born, I flew another two and a half years. Traveling, being away, I couldn’t manage it,” she says. On working days, little Jessica was taken care of by her maternal grandmother or aunt. She couldn’t even count on her father’s company, since he also acted as a commissioner. “Every time I went off scale, I would cry,” recalls Cynthia.
The decision to give up her job as a flight attendant coincided with a mass layoff of employees at the airline following a takeover deal struck with another airline. Cynthia was inserted in the wave and never returned to the field, even with several attacks from other important air carriers. “They called me several times, but I didn’t want to know anymore,” she says.
A love that transforms
She closed the doors to flying, but her love of aviation hasn’t changed. He transformed. It was a long time without a job, after all, as she says, “all she knew was how to fly”. Until the opportunity to be part of the Helisul team came up, thanks to a little push from a college friend.
“My friend Silvia worked at Helisul, she told me about the opportunity to do an interview and it worked.” It was on the 4th of July 2001 that it all began – almost 11 years ago. Always in the operations sector, Cynthia performed a little of each function: entering the logbook in the system, sending processes to Anac and even dedicated herself to taking care of the uniforms of Helisul employees.
Currently, as an operations analyst for the company, Cynthia works in coordinating pilot training, dealing with all the bureaucratic part of the process. “I have direct contact with the pilots, it’s very interesting. I didn’t leave my area”, she celebrates.
In addition to not going out, it still infects other people. Remember little Jessica, daughter of a father and mother who were flight attendants? Not only did she spend her childhood going back and forth, especially on the Curitiba – São Paulo route, aboard aircraft, but she was also “bitten”. Today she is 15 years old, passionate about aviation and is already following in her mother’s footsteps.
“She is working as a Young Apprentice in Helisul’s purchasing department and wants to be a pilot”, says her mother.
Jessica has a two-year contract with the company. While working and delving deeper into the company’s daily processes, the teenager can’t wait to turn 18 (in December 2024), to apply not only for the pilot course at a university, but for the flight attendant course as well.
If it’s up to Jessica, the legacy of love and dedication for aviation left by her mother is guaranteed: “Aviation is in the blood. We go in and don’t come out anymore.”
