Female pilots are taking over the aviation scene all over the world.
According to popular belief, men usually fly airplanes and women usually attend to passengers on them.
These days however, things are different when it comes to which gender flies an airplane.
Even though there have been many influential women pilots throughout history, the question remains how often do you see a woman behind the ‘stick’ of a major commercial airline? Almost never has been the ready answer over the years, but not today.
Women across the globe are catching the pilot bug and enrolling in flight schools to start their journey towards becoming professional airline pilots. They want it, and they are going for it with so much passion that they inspire others to dare follow their dreams. The story is not different in Nigeria as young ladies are bracing the odds and daring to make a name in a territory once reserved for men.
Nigerian female pilots may be few, but what they lack in numbers, they make up in enthusiasm. Possessing fierce passion for flying, they are also making successful careers out of it.
These are their stories:
With ten female pilots on its roster, Aero Contractors has the highest number of female pilots in Nigeria. It’s a record the domestic carrier is proud of and continues to nurture.
Some of these women include Captain Faith Odushola-Boegheim, who is the first and youngest female to become a captain on Aero’s Boeing 737 jet, Captain Tolulope Ita, and the twins, Senior First Officers Hassana and Huseina Edili-Ogaji.
It’s total freedom up there –Faith Odushola-Boegheim
Faith started flying in 2000 after studying in South Africa for three years. She began her career with Aero Contractors in 2002. She’s married to a pilot and has a little girl. Growing up, she had always wanted to be a doctor, being a pilot was her second choice because her dad was a pilot. She believed her parents couldn’t afford to send her to aviation school, but apparently her father nurtured the hope that one of his kids would follow in his footsteps. Before she knew it, he was making preparations for flying school.
If there was any discrimination it was not because she was female. She studied in South Africa although there were still little racism at the time. She also had a female instructor who didn’t discriminate at all. A few of the bosses, however, were not very sure where to place her and they put unnecessary pressure on her without really giving her the chance to be herself and concentrate on flying. In the end, she scaled through and is doing well now.
‘‘Flying is memorable. Nigerian airspace has improved a lot. It’s total freedom up there and you get to be yourself. When you are on the ground you go through more stress that you look forward to flying. For me, that’s the best part of my job. When you land, passengers come in to congratulate you and take pictures with you because you are female. The feeling of having satisfied passengers is priceless.’’
We scaled through many challenges and came out better –Hassana & Huseina Edili-Ogaji
These twins became interested in aviation because they grew up in the environment. They watched their parents going to the flight line in the Nigerian Air Force every day. They were offered admission to the NCAT but they did not have the resources then.
But with support from people like Captain Joe Achimogu and Air Vice Marshal Saliu Attah, they were sponsored by Aero Contractors based on merit. Now, their total flying experience is seven years, nearly five of them with Aero. In their class, there were three females out of ten students.
In Zaria, they never experienced gender-based discrimination. The relationship with their colleagues in flying school was awesome, but they had the usual misunderstandings and issues with mingling. They had to cope with a lot of things at that time, but there was no gender discrimination. They were all trained to operate within the same safety standards, regardless of gender.
‘‘Flying is awesome. As a pilot, you get to see the terrain. Going into other countries, you see the lights and things on the ground are organized, but then coming back to Nigeria you just see this dark expanse of bare land and disorganized buildings. There is still so much we can do with all the vast land we see when we fly. As pilots, we need to fly into Nigeria and see well-lit airspace, which would make us proud.’’
The perception that men are better pilots is changing –Tolulope Ita
She’s married to a pilot and has two kids. She started at the University of Ilorin, where I studied Computer Science, before proceeding to NCAT (Nigerian College of Aviation Technology) in Zaria, where she was sponsored by the government.
Her career started when she joined Aero Contractors in 2005. Everybody who knew her knew she wanted to fly, but her father died when she was nine so it wasn’t possible for her mum to consider this career for her. During her national youth service, somebody heard that Ministry of Women Affairs was interested in sponsoring some people to Zaria and off she went for a six-year course. At the end of the day, her tuition and that of everybody in the class was taken care of by the government during Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration.
For her, the perception that men are better pilots is changing, especially when passengers discover that the pilot is female and they get to their destination safely. ‘‘On one occasion when the weather was very bad, although we managed to maneuver and get back to our origin, I asked my co-pilot to brief the passengers. On arrival, I came out to calm the passengers down and explained the situation, and they were all surprised to see that the captain was a lady. I told them that if they still wanted to continue with the journey they should come back the next day, although I doubted they would. The next morning, surprisingly, all of them turned up, with more people who had bought tickets. For me, that was quite encouraging. Flying really means freedom. I won’t trade that feeling for anything else in the world.’’
Ruqayya Suleiman broke cultural barriers
Ruqayya became the first female pilot from Bakori Local Government Area, Katsina State. The young woman was among fifteen other pilots trained in South Africa under a full Petroleum Trust Development Fund (PTDF) scholarship as internationally certified commercial pilots. Ms Suleiman broke the cultural barrier by acquiring higher education which was quite unusual for girls from her area. Today, she is soaring on the winds with pride.
Flying is not for everyone –Imoleayo Adebule
She is one of Nigeria’s youngest female pilots. She is excelling in a profession that is not only averse to people of her gender, but quite difficult even for men. Having graduated at the top of her class at the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology, Kaduna, she works with Aero Contractors where she is making giant strides.
Getting admitted for the course was no mean feat. Out of the 140 people that did the interview that year, only nine made it to the class. One person joined later on, so they were just ten in the class. A lot of people might go in for it but it’s not meant for everybody. She had challenges paying her fees but got lucky when Aero Contractors sponsored her and other students. Eventually, Aero Contractors’ investment paid off as she was the best graduating student in her class. She was the second person to fly solo in her class, that is, flying the plane without an instructor.
“I have flown many times to various parts of the country and beyond its shores. I hold a Commercial Pilot’s License and have been promoted to the rank of First Officer. I go to different parts of the world every six months for training and occasionally, when I want to learn the grips of a new aircraft.’’
The way her friends socialize is quite different from the way she does it. This makes her feel she’s in a different world even though she makes the effort to mix up with people of different professions.
However, she has no regrets. She loves flying and can’t think of anything else she would rather be doing other than flying. It’s a man’s world but women are also doing the impossible and achieving great feats.