Inspiring story of Nigerian female twin pilots and how women are shaping aviation sector

         By Wole Shadare

There have been inspiring stories of all female pilots for some time now. And they are beginning to take-over the aviation scene all over the world and Nigeria is not an exemption.

These days however, things are different when it comes to which gender flies an airplane. 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 as the story is changing. Nigeria has twice recorded all female crew flight; one by Aero Contractors a few years ago and another recently done by Air Peace.

The record-setting all-female crew comprised Capt. Simisola Ajibola, Senior First Officer Quincy Owen, SEP Instructor Rosemary Uagbor, Cabin Executive Chidimma Chimezie and Cabin Executive Opakirite George.

The flight came days after Air Peace produced its first female captain, Simisola Ajibola. The airline said the flight was a tribute to her and promoted gender equality.

The Boeing B737-300 aircraft with Capt. Simisola in command and copiloted by Senior First Officer Quincy took off from Lagos and landed in Abuja, from where it flew to Owerri before returning to Lagos.

Not surprisingly, it was a euphoric atmosphere at each stop. It is interesting that others involved in the operations underlined female capacity. They were B1 Engineer, Justina Etim, who signed out the aircraft in Lagos and dispatchers Chisom Onyeakposi and Olubukola Olajiga.

Ladi Amadu and Loretta Ekeh dispatched the flight in Abuja and Owerri, respectively. The airline operated the flight with only women in charge of the cockpit, cabin, engineering and dispatch.

The all-female crew flight shows what females can accomplish with focus and determination.

The story has an unmistakable inspirational quality to it. In a country where girl-child education is not exactly on the front burner in several areas, the feat is a picture of possibilities.

The flight from Addis Ababa in Ethiopia to Lagos in Nigeria was operated entirely by women, from pilots to cabin crew, check-in staff to flight dispatchers on the ground. The Boeing 777 made the journey in five and a half hours. It was part of a campaign to encourage African women to consider pursuing careers in aviation, an industry that is dominated by men.

In 2015, the airline used an all-female crew on an international flight to Bangkok, Thailand. In a similar instance of what females can do, two years ago, Air India’s flight AI 173 flew non-stop from Delhi to San Francisco, becoming the world’s longest all-women operated and supported flight.

Certainly, the females involved in the Air Peace flight deserve congratulations. Their achievement is a metaphor for the capacity of the human spirit to soar above obstacles in the pursuit of worthwhile goals.

As the country celebrates their achievement, it should be noted that gender inclusion has advantages.

But more inspiring is the story of beautiful Nigerian female twin pilots, Hassana and Huseina Edili-Ogaji who are doing exploits in the aviation sector. Their story is that of what a man can, a woman can do better. 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 Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria, 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 10 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,’’ they said of their expectation for Nigerian aviation.

The International Society of Women Airline Pilots (ISA) has estimated that just 4,000 of the world’s 130,000 pilots or a mere three per cent, are female pilots. And these women are paving the way for a new tomorrow.

Aside from the glamour and admiration that come with practicing as a female pilot, an area that is mostly dominated by men, there are other interesting things that come with the profession. Woleshadarenews spoke with a pilot on condition of anonymity who said she was motivated by the fact that flying isn’t a boring job.

“I would see the vast spread of the sky often and I would get off the ground and I would enjoy my job,” she says.

Experts suggest the myriads of challenges surrounding the practice of the profession are the reasons there are few women in the profession. Rector, Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Abdulsalami Mohammed said it took time before women started developing interest in aviation as the first female pilot in NCAT was trained in the late 1970s, just as the airline industry also wasn’t employing many females at a time.

“One of the challenges is that pilots are very expensive to train and then you do not stay for long without flying or else you forget, that is why people go for recurrent training. We have to do certain numbers of take-offs and landings within certain number of days. We also do medical examinations on a regular basis. “If a woman gets pregnant, the law says she will stop flying.

She will not fly again, until after she gives birth and she is declared medically fit. After she gives birth, she needs to train again before she flies an aircraft. This will take a minimum of 12 months. During this period, the airline she works for will be paying her salary and she has to retrain again after laying off for so long,” said Mohammed.

“These factors also affect cabin crew. That is why in the Middle East, for instance, if they are employing female cabin crew, they make them write an undertaking that they will not get pregnant for a certain period of time.

Female children look after the parents than the male children, so I rather invest to train my daughter because she is the one that will look after me in old age than the boys.

CRM is concerned with the cognitive and interpersonal skills needed to manage resources within an organized system, not so much with the technical knowledge and skills required to operate equipment. In this context, cognitive skills are defined as the mental processes used for gaining and maintaining situational awareness, for solving problems and for making decisions.

Interpersonal skills are regarded as communications and a range of behavioural activities associated with teamwork. In many operational systems as in other walks of life, skill areas often overlap with each other, and they also overlap with the required technical skills.

Furthermore, they are not confined to multi-crew craft or equipment, but also relate to single operator equipment or craft as they invariably need to interface with other craft or equipment and various other support agencies in order to complete a mission successfully.

In a bid to mitigate the huge gap in the number of women practicing as pilots in Nigeria, experts suggest that education is key in changing the mind-set of females and their parents that the profession is not exclusively for men.

Not a few believe that female pilots can be encouraged in Nigeria, considering the fact that a lot of women are making it as pilots in other countries and with the population of Nigeria and its strategic location, there are more prospects for women to play effectively in this space.