1. Yann Pican Read more
    Yann Pican
    Yann PICAN, the captain, was born in Caen 45 years ago and wanted to become a pilot early on. He started to fly at the CAEN flying club while pursuing his university studies in mathematics and physics – however university was not for him so he decided instead to join the French Naval Aviation. He began as a pilot for the upper command of the French Navy on Embraer Xingu and Dassault Falcon 10, and afterwards as a pilot doing maritime surveillance on the Guardian in the Pacific and then on the Falcon 50. His extensive experience on the Falcon was a great asset when he joined Unijet 4 years ago. He left the French Naval Aviation after 18 years with the rank of lieutenant and had 6,500 hours of flying time, including 1,500 hours on the Falcon 50.
    Yann did everything thoroughly. He was always cheerful and self-deprecating. He was an excellent tactician, a true "aviator” who was a self-assured perfectionist, always ready to go on a mission. Yann had three passions or rather four, and these were in chronological order: aviation, his wife Carole, who he met in high school when they were teenagers, and thus a result of this second passion, three adorable daughters -Pauline 20 years, Juliette 17 years and Marianne 13 years. They meant meant the world to him; and he meant the world to them.
    And his last passion: Johnny Halliday. I do not think he missed a single concert. UNIJET had the opportunity to fly his idol one year ago and to tease Yann – who so ardently wished to be the pilot - we let him believe that another pilot had been assigned to this flight as he would be too worked up to focus on the flight with his idol in the plane!
  2. Ruslana Vervelle Read more
    Ruslana Vervelle
    Ruslana Vervelle, the cabin attendant, was born in 1975 in Ternopil Ukraine, 400km west of Kiev. After studying languages (she spoke six languages fluently) and with her knowledge of Russian, she moved first to Poland and then to Tenerife in the Canary Islands to work as an interpreter. It was there that she met her husband, Patrick, 13 years ago.
    Ruslana started her work as a cabin hostess 8 years at the French charter airline XL Airways and quickly became its brand ambassador since she always was in charge of the inaugural flights with journalists.
    She started her career as a cabin attendant 8 years ago at the French charter airline XL Airways and quickly became its brand ambassador since she always was in charge of the inaugural flights with journalists.
    Ruslana also worked for Unijet on a free-lance basis, especially for flights to Eastern Europe as her language skills in Polish, Russian and Ukrainian were a great asset. What motivated her most working for Unijet was the special relationship she could build with the passengers – something that only business aviation allows for.
    Ruslana worked hard together with her husband to renovate an old house in Aveyron, a place which reminded her of her roots. She was very attentive to the passengers’ needs and very demanding on the quality of service. She was cheerful and good-natured, determined and courageous.
  3. Maxime Rassiat Read more
    Maxime Rassiat
    Maxime was born 28 years ago in Paris. He did all his schooling in Fenelon and decided unconvincingly to get a degree in physics at Jussieu, while pursuing his real passion by taking flying lessons at the flying club of Pontoise. He was able to convince his parents of his vocation, and enrolled at the Mermoz Institute to pass his frozen ATPL. He then went to EPAG Flying School where the young Air France’s pilots are trained to pass the practical part of the commercial license and instrument rating.
    With the help of his parents, he was able finance himself a Cessna CJ2 type rating, and after a few flights as a free-lance pilot to gain experience, he presented himself at UNIJET in early 2011 with the minimum required flight hours. At the time of selection we did not hesitate: Maxime definitely stood out from the rest.
    The selection process of new pilots goes as follows: Two candidates who do not know each other beforehand are put into a flight simulator. One must carry out the role of a pilot while the other candidate acts as a partner, providing the pilot with support. First, we test the pilots’ ability to organize their work despite their lack of experience on the type of aircraft, but also very important, we evaluate how the partner assists the pilot.
    In this exercise Maxime’s performance was very convincing. Not only did he perform well as pilot in command, but he also offered great support for his partner despite the fact he was also his competitor. That was Maxime – a person full of passion and generosity, an altruist. He was polite and reserved without being shy. To his friends he had no flaws - except perhaps to be always late for his appointments. However, here at Unijet, we never noticed this, because the excitement to fly was so strong that he would always arrive well before any of his flights. Maxime had 1,500 hours of flying time, including 200 on the Falcon 50.
  4. Christophe de Margerie
    Christophe de Margerie
    Maxime was born 28 years ago in Paris. He did all his schooling in Fenelon and decided unconvincingly to get a degree in physics at Jussieu, while pursuing his real passion by taking flying lessons at the flying club of Pontoise. He was able to convince his parents of his vocation, and enrolled at the Mermoz Institute to pass his frozen ATPL. He then went to EPAG Flying School where the young Air France’s pilots are trained to pass the practical part of the commercial license and instrument rating.
    With the help of his parents, he was able finance himself a Cessna CJ2 type rating, and after a few flights as a free-lance pilot to gain experience, he presented himself at UNIJET in early 2011 with the minimum required flight hours. At the time of selection we did not hesitate: Maxime definitely stood out from the rest.
    The selection process of new pilots goes as follows: Two candidates who do not know each other beforehand are put into a flight simulator. One must carry out the role of a pilot while the other candidate acts as a partner, providing the pilot with support. First, we test the pilots’ ability to organize their work despite their lack of experience on the type of aircraft, but also very important, we evaluate how the partner assists the pilot.
    In this exercise Maxime’s performance was very convincing. Not only did he perform well as pilot in command, but he also offered great support for his partner despite the fact he was also his competitor. That was Maxime – a person full of passion and generosity, an altruist. He was polite and reserved without being shy. To his friends he had no flaws - except perhaps to be always late for his appointments. However, here at Unijet, we never noticed this, because the excitement to fly was so strong that he would always arrive well before any of his flights. Maxime had 1,500 hours of flying time, including 200 on the Falcon 50.
  5. Robert Bull Read more
    Robert Bull
    Robert Bull, aged 40, joined London Executive Aviation in June 2015. In a seven-year professional flying career, he had amassed considerable experience of flying King Air aircraft and other smaller aircraft types. Having started his flight training in 1999, he achieved his commercial licence in 2008 and was a CAA flying examiner. He was a devoted father to his daughter.
  6. Francis Simmonds Read more
    Francis Simmonds
    Francis Simmonds, aged 46, was a long-serving member of the LEA team, having joined the company in 2005. He was experienced in flying multiple aircraft types, including business jets. He had been a pilot for more than 25 years and started flying commercially for LEA in 2007, having first worked in the company’s operations centre. Francis was widely known across LEA and also carried out non-flying duties, such as company process audits. He was a devoted husband and dad to his wife Laura of 11 years and a seven-year-old son.