Chinedu Eze

Globally there is paucity of pilots, a development that has made them some of the most mobile personnel in the world that are being sought after.

Aircraft manufacturers may have their timeline for manufacturing planes but the equipment so produced and acquired by airlines and lessors will need to be operated by seasoned pilots. The number of pilots who have acquired expected operating hours is not growing as the airlines are increasing their fleet.

Experts say this is so because of the long process and the high cost of training pilots and other aviators, including aircraft engineers, marshallers, cabin crew, flight schedulers and others but the major challenge is getting enough pilots to operate the airplanes.

Pilot training is gruelling in the sense that they have to go through stringent conditions to meet the critical criteria needed to qualify them to enter the cockpit as captains and flight officers. From the private pilot licence to commercial pilot licence to type rating and to accumulation of a given number of hours to become qualified to handle commercial flight, have been described by aviation experts as herculean.

Last week in Lagos, African Aviation Group organised Fireside Chat, a meeting for aspiring aviators with focus on pilot training, which brought to the fore the key issues in manpower development in aviation.

The founder of the African Aviation Group (AAG) and the Organiser of the Fireside Chat, Chidozie Uzoezie, said the event was designed to offer aspiring aviators a cross-cultural and productive platform to learn from African aviation experts’ experiences, and gain valuable insights into how to identify and overcome relatable challenges, and safely navigate through their career paths.

“The theme of the event, ‘Mentoring Through Compelling Narratives’, aligns well with one of our core objectives, which is sparking meaningful conversations that will ultimately challenge stereotypes and shift mindsets.

People’s dreams are valid and achievable no matter where they come from and their humble family backgrounds. They can become whatever they want to become despite initial challenges and setbacks,” Uzoezie said.

However, THISDAY spoke to two pilots who threw light on the importance, the benefits and the challenges of their job and how airlines and government can help in growing technical manpower in the aviation sector.

One of the pilots is Captain Callistus Ifeanyi, who flies for Air Peace and who is a Captain on Embraer E145. Speaking on capacity development and mentorship in the aviation industry, Ifeanyi acknowledged the inadequate supply of qualified pilots in the world and said one of the major factors that have contributed to it, was the time factor in training a pilot to man commercial flights and also the cost of the training.

“Generally, all over the world now, you will see that there is shortage of pilots and one of the ways we can get more youngsters to be trained as pilot, is if companies are able to come in and put up sponsorship programmes for the younger ones. One thing about aviation is that maybe because we are flying up there, everything about aviation is up there in terms of cost and all that. It is not something that everybody on the street will be able to lay their hands on. It is not a career that everybody can just pitch in.

“But aspiring aviators can leverage on some other skills like cabin crew, flight dispatch and all that. Some people can afford that and they go into it and from there they keep on climbing the ladder. It would be a nice thing if Africa, and Nigeria in particular, could get more sponsorship to bring up these younger generations that will fill the gap,” Ifeanyi said.

According to him, what the industry is experiencing now is that the older generations are retiring and the gap is not being filled up and also observed that the crop of pilots and other aviators who are retiring now were largely trained by government and its agencies like the defunct Nigeria Airways Limited.

“So, we encourage other parastatals, organisations to come in and put up some sponsorship programmes that will motivate the younger ones to take a career in the aviation industry,” he said.

Speaking in the same vein, the first female captain to operate the new aircraft type, Embraer E195-E2 in Africa, Captain Ibironke Rotimi Olajide, also encouraged women to train as pilots because of the invaluable benefits, including job satisfaction, the pay pack and the professionalism. Olajide also spoke about her climb and the challenges she faced going up.

“Well, there have been challenges here and there, and there have been some successes achieved as well. Like becoming the first female Captain on Embraer E195-E2 in Africa, it was a huge feat for me. So, there is this, I am sure we are going to, of course, there is this subtle discrimination when it comes to women in the industry. It is there. Whether some people see it or not, it is there.

“It is subtle. However, it is not something that you are going to write down and say, no, females should not do this. No. It is not that. There is no profession that is just tailored for the male counterparts. So, if a female feels that she can thrive there, why not? She is welcomed to join that industry. So, like I said, I have gone through those challenges from the start, from my training, all the way to this point,” she said.

Olajide admitted that female pilots stay longer in one company than their male counterparts and noted that while female pilots may be preferred by airlines is because they do not move from job to job across countries like their male counterparts due to family obligations.

She said that a female pilot who is raising children, for example, would think deeply before leaving the country she is working to get a job in another country or the job rotation in the airline she may want to go to.

“For instance, maybe, I am to work, say, two months on, one month off, and then I have young children to take care of, I must first consider my children and the family before opting to get another job outside of Nigeria. The next thing that comes to my mind is, where will my children be? So, I will have to probably think of moving with my children. So, by the time you think about all those movements, you will say to yourself; you know what, let me just stay here for some time, spend some years here. When they grow up, or when I have a good plan about the movement and relocating, then the female pilots can now move. So, it is actually true that females usually stay longer on jobs before thinking of moving to another job. Yes, it’s true,” she said.

Olajide advised young girls that aspire to be pilots to go for their dreams and buffet through the challenges because the result when successful, compensates for the tortuous journey they went through to actualise the dream.

“My advice to young girls is to leave the fear factor, pursue your dreams. Because, fine, it might be challenging, like now you mentioned the monetary aspect, getting into flying school. And then, I also like to tell females to acquire knowledge, acquire skills. So those are the things that will make them grow in any field. But more so in this aviation industry, you mustn’t start from being a pilot. There are other places, one can start. One can start as a cabin crew, a flight dispatcher or any other,” she said.

Many in the industry say that if each state government could sponsor five youths interested in becoming a pilot every year, within the next 20 years, Nigeria will have a lot of pilots to export to other countries.