¾ÅÓÎÌåÓý

Skip to main content
You are the owner of this article.
Edit Article Add New Article
You have permission to edit this article.
Edit

Female pilot shares about her aviation journey

  • Updated
  • 0

Mercy Ajala says she is also getting her masters degree in aviation management at SIU, and she's also a pilot.

MURPHYSBORO, IL (WSIL) - This plane is headed towards Kentucky with two pilots making their dreams come true. 

“If you can see it, you can be it,� Mercy Ajala says, sharing the phase of Captain Theresa Mae Claiborne. 

Captain Claibore is the first African American woman to become a U.S. Air Force pilot and one of Ajala’s role models. 

Being a pilot is what Mercy Ajala is doing right now; she's working instrument rating. It would allow her to be able to fly in weather conditions that make it hard to see, and gets her one step closer to becoming a commercial pilot.

Female pilot shares about her aviation journey

“Right now I have 150 hours. In order to be an airline pilot, you need 1,500 hours,� Ajala says.

Ajala is from Nigeria, and her first flight ever was to South Africa with a woman pilot.

“I have never been to an airport before. So I asked my dad why she is dressed so nicely compared to us. He told me that that lady was going to be the one flying us to South Africa,� Ajala says. “I just think from that moment on, I fell in love with aviation.�

Keila Venegas is also going with Ajala to Kentucky. She says it's empowering to be a pilot.

“I'm a first generation as well, so for me it just means that much more to be able to do this,� Venegas says. 

Pilots doing a pre-flight check

Patrick Hogge is the CEO and Chief flight instructor for Enhanced Aero. He is also Ajala's flight instructor for her instrument rating. Hogge says anyone can be a pilot.

“For the longest time, the image of a pilot has been the same; it has always been a guy,� Hogge says.  "It's just one of those fields that we need to let people know anybody can do it, you know?�

Ajala says she hopes to see other women in aviation like Captain Claiborne.

“I hope younger girls in the future look up to me and inspire me to be like me. Just like I inspire to be like Teressa someday," Ajala says.

Ajala says she is also getting her masters degree in aviation management at SIU. She says she wants the degree to be a backup plan because she likes the aviation field.

SIU's chapter for Women in Aviation International will be hosting a Girls in Aviation Day tomorrow at the Glenn Poshard Transportation Center.

It's for girls 7 to 17 years old.

They will have a flight simulator experience, and other activities.