Ep 19 Nose Up -aup.mp3

[00:00:00] Hello and welcome to the next episode of, If Women Were Meant to fly, the sky would be pink Nose up. I'm Enid Otun. In this episode, I'm promoted to senior first officer,

[00:00:14] There are more fun and games at the Lagos Flying Club as students learn to fly. And I suffer a series of setbacks on a personal level and fight to be exonerated.

[00:00:55] I have to say, in all the years that I've been a pilot, never have I laughed so much than when I was teaching new pilots to fly. I'm not being mean in saying this. I'm simply highlighting the human aspect to learning anything new. Sometimes the simplest of instructions were taken literally. I had more than one student who was in the early stages of training, and in the first couple of hours getting used to the aircraft, we would attempt to fly the aircraft straight and level, no climbing or descending or turning. As Student pilots, they all took a little time to get used to the sensation of flight, and the first few attempts would often result in overcompensating one way or another. Often it would be climbing or descending. So I would gently encourage a correction instead of doing it for them. Nose up would be a term I used to gently encourage them to pull back on the control column to stop them from descending. Often, I would be looking ahead and pointing out on the horizon where the nose of the aircraft needed to be in relation to this. On one such occasion when nothing was apparently happening, I turned to see my student with his head tilted right back. I repeated the instruction, only to have him raise his own nose further in the air. With a wry smile, I asked him to resume a comfortable position whilst I explained that although I wanted him to be one with the aircraft, his body actions would not actually alter the aircraft position. On another occasion, I instructed a student to turn the aircraft to the left, and when this didn't happen within a reasonable amount of time, I turned to see whether he had heard me over the aircraft noise, to find his body twisted as far to the left as he could.

[00:02:47] Now, even though I knew, I still inquired as to why he was in that position. He told me that he had mixed up his own movements with the aircraft controls and found himself carrying out the actions instead. A student I had who had amassed quite a number of hours and who I'd sent solo, had arrived one morning for an early practice flight.

[00:03:11] He had developed quite an ego and I had to work extra hard to get him to keep it in check, especially when he was flying on his own. He carried out his pre-flight inspection, but as it was the first flight of the day, the aircraft all had their chocs in place and were tied down with ropes under each wing strut.

[00:03:30] I watched him for a short time whilst he removed the tie downs, before I wandered back into my office. A little while later, I heard him start the aircraft, and attempt to taxi off the grass by increasing the engine power. Very quickly, the sound resembled a full power setting, and I knew he couldn't have taxied out that quickly. I ran around my desk to the open door, to find him straining against the still in place chocs. He must have been quite surprised when I turned up off to his left, wildly gesticulating for him to shut the engine down by pulling my hand across my throat in a cutting motion. He duly complied, and when he had exited the aircraft, I pointed to the still in place chocs which were now embedded in the grass and, not in a good way. He was suitably embarrassed, but I reassured him that pilots do make mistakes. Recognizing and learning from them is the key.

[00:04:28] Back in my commercial setting, I had been promoted to senior first officer, topped off with a small ceremony in the chief pilot's office, presenting me with my three gold bars. I can't deny that I was elated. And on cloud nine. With constant nagging doubts about both my capabilities and the acceptance of women in the profession, I didn't think it was a given, no matter how hard I worked. Male colleagues would sometimes tell me. Calm down now, you don't have to try so hard or work so hard, you've made your point. But they were wrong. I was never able to take my foot off the throttle, and I still believe I had to be twice as conscientious as my male counterparts to be accepted and promoted. I had always suffered on and off with a lack of self-worth, confidence and good old fashioned belief in myself ever since my traumatic and damaged childhood. Suddenly things were coming together for me and I was believing in myself. This new me was virtually unrecognizable from the sad, directionless young child I'd been some 10 years previously, and it sometimes took me by surprise when I took stock of how far I'd come. As a result of my promotion, I was given additional duties in line with my next goal, which was a captaincy. These were uncharted waters as Shell had high expectations for their captains and most, if not all, were hired directly as captains. We didn't yet have a promotion program from co-pilot, so this fight was yet to come. I was determined that this would be another path I had to tread. My fellow copilots were also invested in this as we started to see more local pilots climbing through the ranks, we had to be careful to do this in a structured way to give credit and relevance to the young Nigerian pilots that were going to be a key part of the Nigerian aviation structure, and who would go on to make the industry a safe and relevant one.

[00:06:29] As part of the company's attempts to improve training, they commissioned the building of a Twin Otter simulator, to provide initial familiarisation training for new copilots joining the fixed-wing operation. It was a crude wooden but very effective tool which reduced dependency on the actual aircraft for initial training requirements. I was now assigned to managing initial training sessions on the simulator for all joining copilots. Initial familiarisation, checklist use, emergency procedures could all be practiced in this environment, and it allowed new pilots to familiarize themselves with the cockpit layout, which was crucial to reducing the stressful high-pressure training sessions whilst onboard the aircraft. I very much enjoyed this new assignment as it allowed me to put my instructor hat on and engage with our new hires before they were thrust into a commercial environment and all that that entailed.

[00:07:41]  In addition to my work life, I also had responsibilities at home as my mother and I owned a block of flats and had to manage tenants. For the most part, we had excellent tenants who didn't cause any problems and we were quite relaxed as landlords. However, all this was about to change as we decided to agree to a short term rental for a friend of a friend. The short term rental turned into a six year nightmare when the tenant upped and left the flat for two years, leaving all his furniture and belongings in it.

[00:08:13] Various attempts to track him down proved fruitless, and in the end, we had our lawyers apply to the courts to allow us forceful entry to the flat to clear and then sell his belongings to recover the rent. This, as with many things back then, took a lot of effort and time to achieve. But we wanted to make sure everything was done to the letter of the law, although that was not always the prevailing thinking in those days. Once we had a court order, we went ahead with a clearance and property sale, six months later, the former tenant showed up with the police in tow at my mother's door. I was away on duty at the time. When I return to Lagos, I was informed that my mother had been arrested and was in the local jail about a mile away. Needless to say, I was incensed. But before I lost my mind, I made sure that I made arrangements for support, as I had a feeling that once I turned up, I would also be arrested. I sent messages to our lawyers, as well as my company and several influential friends. With that accomplished, I presented myself at the local police station in full uniform. Now, in hindsight, I should have changed first as this was about to set off a firestorm of unwanted publicity.

[00:09:28] I was unceremoniously stripped of my belt and my shoes and told that I, too, would be jailed until the matter could be settled by the courts. Interestingly, the official order by the courts that showed we had acted lawfully, was not accepted as the police officers had been bribed. The intent was to extort money from us for release and to settle the case out of court, and this was something I was not going to do. Bribery and corruption were part of daily life in Nigeria, and it was tedious beyond belief at the best of times, but I was used to it. Ending up in a jail cell with my mother was not an everyday occurrence, though, and to say we were dismayed, was putting it mildly. I was led to the female holding cells, but only after a heated argument about whether I was actually a woman, as surely women could not possibly be pilots. Yes, that old chestnut. Now, let me paint a picture of local jails in Lagos at that time. Unpleasant doesn't even begin to describe it. Overcrowded, dirty and with virtually no amenities. My poor mother and I were consigned to mats on the floor, which were kind of provided by the women already incarcerated and who felt extremely sorry for us and our predicament, once they heard the story. They quickly convened a meeting, as they realized we would be here for at least a couple of days and, from their own experiences, knew that we would be in danger overnight from the very people expected to uphold the law.

[00:10:55] There was no sleep to be had as various men, these were men who were being held in the male section of the jail as well as police officers, prowled the corridors outside our holding cells, attempting entry, only to be pushed back constantly by our fellow inmates. Rats made their way through drains in the floor, scavenging for leftover food, and at one point I lost count of the number of them. Now I'm a tough, no-nonsense woman, but that experience frightened me like no other, as I realized that I would be outnumbered and defenceless against this onslaught. To this day, I remain eternally grateful to the women who doggedly protected us through the night, and who shielded us from what can only be described as the intent to degrade us. I will never be able to repay the kindness and tenacity of those women who risked their own lives to give us that protection. They were mostly street vendors who had also been victims of some corrupt shenanigans rather than any real crime, or wives of disgruntled husbands who had decided to get their own back on them by bribing someone to throw them in jail. Horrifying, isn't it? When I found out the true extent of their sacrifice, I made sure that their bail was paid, lawyers secured for their court appearances, and I visited each and every one of them to offer my heartfelt gratitude and thanks.

[00:12:18] The following morning, our lawyers arrived and along with assistance from influential friends, the charge was thrown out and the tenant was held for wrongful complaint. It, however, did not stop him from attempting to extort money from us through the courts for the next three years. However, we repeatedly showed up in the crowded courts every six months and eventually, the case was thrown out as he had now disappeared in order not to be arrested. Just after we had been released, the evening newspaper led with a front-page story. Female pilot arrested in fraud, drama, whatever that meant. They had a nice large picture of me on the front page, along with their ridiculous and sensational story about me committing fraud, et cetera. At first, I was worried about the negative publicity this might bring on my company, but I was called into the office by my chief pilot, who sought to reassure me that I had their complete support and they assigned the company lawyers to assist us. I really was touched by their loyalty and faith in me. The front page evening story died a death by the next day, and it was very heartwarming to see all my colleagues come to offer their support and outrage.

[00:13:28] The experience affected me for weeks to come, but my mother showed her true strength as a feisty Cumbrian lass, by shrugging it off and returning to her usual everyday work, as well as attracting the admiration and respect of people in the local area who brought her food and gifts and came to extend their sympathy that she should have to have gone through such an indignity. The support we received from our friends and neighbours, as well as people we didn't know, showed me our true African nature and restored my faith in humanity.

[00:14:02] Thank you for listening. As always, your reviews and comments are very much appreciated. Thank you to Lucy Ashby for the editing of this episode. If you would like to ask a question or make a comment, please do so on our social media sites, we're on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, Or send us an email. Our email address is TheSkyisPinkpilot@Gmail.com. That's     theskyispinkPilot@gmail.com. Or visit our website www.skyispink.co.uk. 

[00:14:33] In the next episode, aviation accidents are on the increase and I lose some very good friends. I am offered another job and a contract, hard to refuse. And I experience my first piranha fish encounter on a company boat trip, which puts me off fish for life. Thank you and goodbye.