by S’ola Filani

A 21-year old graduate of Nigerian School of Aviation Technology, Zaria, Rosemary Sugh, recently flew an aircraft for the first time from Zaria, Kaduna, en route Abuja, Kano and back to Zaria.

Narrating her experience, she told the Vanguard: “It was my childhood determination. When I look up and see planes flying and making noise, I was like, God, I have to be a pilot. And it helped me in the sense that the kind of movies I watched, one of the movies was Starship Trooper. When I watched that movie I saw a women flying because. There was a lot of discouragement from my parents and other people. They assumed that if you are a lady and you are a pilot, you may not marry, you can’t cope with marriage. So, when I saw a lady in that Starship Trooper, I was moved. I said wow, if this girl can fly, then I can fly. And I put it into prayers, despite all the obstacles and discouragement.

On being afraid of heights, “I’m not afraid because I remember when I started flying alone, if you are flying alone it is a strange feeling, they told me not to go beyond 8,000 feet to 9,000 feet but determination forced me to do otherwise, so I actually hit 11,000 feet.

I was maintaining 11, 000 feet because where you are going determines the kind of altitude you maintain. So, I maintained 11, 000 feet in the sense that, you know we have tall mountains in Jos, so,  if you are going there you have to be careful of the kind of altitude that you maintain otherwise you may crash into a mountain.

So, I decided on my own, nobody told me because I was alone and decided to maintain 11, 000. Guess what? There were very high mountains everywhere and I discovered that the experience was wonderful.

Yes, I was alone. You must fly in that route alone to prove how competent you are. I flew from Zaria to Jos, then Kano and back to Zaria. I spent like five hours in the air because it is a small engine, it doesn’t move fast. It covers 1.5 nautical miles in one minute, so that’s what made me spend like five hours but if it is a heavy duty machines, it’s different.

On how she felt after landing “I felt like a complete pilot, I’ve fulfilled my dream. I have flown three planes so far and am ready to fly more. I flew TD9, that was the first one I started my training on. The is the first plane anybody who is going to train in Zaria will start with. We call it TD9ner, in the aviation language, that is the way we communicate.

Then the next one was TD20, then the third one was a Multi Engine, B68. It’s a three-engine actually,” she stated.