The excitement among female passengers and the surprised satisfaction of the male travellers who boarded the Lagos-Abuja and Abuja-Owerri flights operated by Captain SimisolaAjibola and her all female crew last Thursday showed that the Captain and her co-pilot, Senior First Officer, Quincy Owen did not make just history, they made memorable history.
While in the US and in other advanced parts of the world women have found their bearing in the aviation industry, in Nigeria and in Africa, the male dominated industry is still sceptical about women commanding flights and working as aeronautical engineers.
This was what gave rise to the myth that women do not have the disposition to be pilots in this part of the world.
But in April in the US, Captain Tammie Jo Shults, 56, an ex-Air Force pilot was able to deploy all her skills and courageously managed to land when one of the two engines on her Boeing 737-700 blew and broke apart at 32,000 feet, forcing her to implement a rapid descent toward Philadelphia International Airport. She was honoured variously for that feat.
Captain Ajibola would be counted as one of those women who have defied the norm about how far women can go in the aviation industry as pilots and engineers.
It was even in the 1980s that Nigeria recorded the first female pilot, Captain Chinyere Kalu who later became the Rector of the College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria.
Nigeria had also recorded all-female flight service before when in 2009 Aero Contractors operated all-female flight with Dash 8, Bombardier Q300 aircraft and in 2011, Arik Air recorded another successful all-female flight with Bombardier CRJ 900.
But what is remarkable about Air Peace flight is that it was the first time a high-performance aircraft was operated by all female team in Nigeria.
The female crew took full charge of the airline’s four-sector flights on the Lagos-Abuja, Abuja-Owerri, Owerri-Abuja and Abuja-Lagos routes. But what passengers found amazing in the four-leg flight was the exceptional way she was landing her aircraft. Whenever she landed spontaneous claps would erupt.
When it was announced at take off that the flight was being operated by female pilots, there was unease among some male passengers, which was promptly erased when the flight tore into the clouds and gained altitude to a cruising height.
And before the flight went through turbulence on the Lagos-Abuja leg, the pilot announced to the passengers to prepare for the turbulence and also intoned that the turbulence was due to weather and not that the pilot was a woman.
By giving Captain Ajibola and crew this chance, Air Peace has also made history. The Chairman of the airline, Allen Onyema had noted that women occupy major position in the management of the airline.
In fact, they constitute 85 per cent of the management team, including technical position such as head of engineering. Was he experimenting? Not likely.
THISDAY gathered that Onyema had engaged women in his other businesses and found them to be very efficient.
The former Director-General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr Harold Demuren once noted that women as pilots are more diligent and reliable because they don’t easily leave the country for greener pastures overseas. One major challenge of airline business is that pilots are always moving from one country to another driven by money and incentives, as their skills are highly sought after overseas.
At a brief ceremony to welcome the crew on arrival in Abuja, Onyema said, “Air Peace is an airline run by women. We are very proud of giving women opportunities to excel because we believe that there is nothing that men can do that women cannot do.
“We want to encourage our female children that they should aspire to be whatever they want to be by emulating what our female flight and cabin crew members have done today,’’ Onyema said.
He commended the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration for its support for domestic airlines and hailed the President for the recent removal of Value Added Tax (VAT) on transportation and waivers granted on importation of aircraft spares.
On her part, Captain Ajibolasaid, “I have been flying for seven years. It has been an amazing one especially as I am in a society where women are not really recognised, but I am glad that most people are beginning to embrace having women as captains and they shouldn’t be worried about it. The flight was successful and people should have confidence in us.”
Ajibola blazed the trail and as some of the female passengers noted on landing, what the pilot did has given them hope that their daughters could become anything they want to be, including commanding flights as captains.
THISDAY
