Timo Leonetti: Cross Country Pilot of the Year

When we sat down to decide the Cross Country Pilot of the Year for 2024, there was no contest.

Timo Leonetti’s passion and dedication inspired thousands of pilots around the world, and this small award is in recognition of how many of us feel about that.

Timo’s close friend Clément Latour told us a short story about Timo’s commitment to flying.

“In January 2023, Damien Lacaze and myself were on a mission to fly XC in Karoo, South Africa. We had been there for a few days already. Timo spotted a good XC window from home and booked a plane ticket. Two days later, while we were getting ready early morning on the take-off, Timo and his parents showed up. We took off together from the same spot and Timo flew 562km that day, 20km more than I flew! Just after arriving from Corsica!”

Timo learned to fly with his parents at a young age, and his Mum Alexandra and Dad Stéphane often accompanied him. “Timo loved to fly,” Alex told us. “He flew with his heart, played with the air and danced with his paraglider. He had a fervour, an energy to explore and pursue his dreams, to give love, to share, and to marvel at his experiences. He never wasted a second.”

Timo’s achievements in cross country flying are well documented. In 2020, aged just 17, he shot to attention in the international free-flight world when he flew six 400km flights in one season in Brazil. That season he came second in the international XContest, and went on to win it in 2022 and 2023.

This past year he had also had an amazing season, racking up 400km and 500km flights in Brazil, exploring the Alps, and showing what could be done with imagination and tenacity in his home mountains in Corsica.

He had just started to fly serious competitions when he tragically died following an accident in the French Nationals on 14 June.

Clément, a time-served competition pilot himself, said Timo was “the future” of competition. “Timo was a top XC pilot, everybody knows that … He was just recently getting into competition flying, but we can assume that once the adjustment made, he was to be amongst the best. No doubt about that.”

Timo’s love for life and flying seemed to give him a special glow, but like all talented pilots who seem to magically succeed, his achievements were the result of training, hard work, a thorough understanding of the game we all play and good planning. Dreams yes, but he had the skills and work ethic to back them up. His joie de vivre added sparkle.

His mother said: “Timo’s magic came from his vibrant desire to live. He often quoted [the Belgian actor] Jacques Brel: ‘Talent doesn’t exist, it’s the desire to achieve your dreams that is talent, the rest is sweat.’”

She added: “And Timo had many dreams. He trained to achieve them and realised so many. He lived with love and passion in mind every step of the way.”

It is for that – for living and flying with love and passion in mind at every step – that Timo was and will remain an inspiration to so many. He was an outstanding ambassador for free flight.