Leslie Bartha, 79
Meet Leslie Bartha, 79 years young.
Les was born in Rodney, Ontario, the youngest of five children growing up on a tobacco farm. His early life was shaped by hard work, close family ties, and resilience.
A chapter of Les’s life he’s always held on to is his time with the London Flight Club. He took 12 of the 13 lessons required to earn his pilot’s license and was just one solo flight away from “getting his wings.” But life intervened and he, and his wife Sharon, bought a house and the cost of completing his training meant flying had to wait. He still remembers the DA-20 Katana planes (two-seaters built right in London) with great fondness.
In 2021, Les suffered a stroke and spent a week in the hospital, followed by two months of rehab. Since then, he’s made remarkable progress, regaining his driver’s license and adapting to a new way of life. Though his right hand and foot aren’t always cooperative, Les remains upbeat and independent. Although the challenges he faces may not allow him to fly a Katana today, Les’s dream of returning to the skies never left him. And recently, that dream became a reality. With support, he boarded a Cessna instructor plane and, for the first time in decades, took control of the aircraft. As the plane lifted off and the world fell away beneath him, so too did the weight of life’s challenges. Not just gravity, but the kind that holds you down in other ways.
During the flight, Les shared a special moment with the pilot saying, “When you’re living life down on the ground, you’re under the force of gravity, not just physical gravity, but all the pressures and noise of life. But when you’re up here, it’s different. It’s quiet. You’re living by a different law, the law of aerodynamics. Up here, you think clearly. Up here, you feel free.”
And in that moment, thousands of feet above the ground, hands on the controls once more, Les wasn’t just revisiting a dream. He was soaring above everything he had overcome to get there.
With a steady hand and a grateful heart, Leslie finally got his wings
Special Thanks: Jordan Wolting and the entire crew at @maplewingsflightcentre
Photography: Kochanka Visuals
