Enid Otun  0:01  
Hello, and welcome to the new season of if women were meant to fly, the sky would be pink. Season Two, Episode One, back onboard. I'm Enid Otun. In this episode, I am still uncertain about job offers and leaving for greener pastures. I seem to experience more sexist abuse as I become a more senior crew member. The latest flying club gains a dedicated and enthusiastic student with just one problem, and I welcome more women pilots into our slow growing fold.

Welcome, everyone to season two. Yes, we are back and ready to get airborne as I navigate my way through the latter stages of my senior years as a first officer. As pilots we were continually tested either in the aircraft, a simulator, both or a swimming pool. Yes, I did say a swimming pool. This is where we practiced our dinghy drills. Since we partially flew over water, it could be considered a small probability that you might have to ditch with a plane load of passengers. The Twin Otter carries an inflatable dinghy, and not only would we have to retrieve it, but we had to make sure that we got all our passengers into it, as well as ourselves along with the rest of our emergency kit. Whilst you couldn't really assess every passengers ability to climb out of an airplane and into a dinghy, possibly soaking wet and via the ocean, attached to a life jacket, the pilots had to prove that they could do it each and every time. This involved climbing out of the water and hoisting yourself over and into the dinghy. It wasn't a favorite emergency drill of mine, but I was always on board with practicing everything that you could, and being prepared for every eventuality on dry land or otherwise. 

We were split into groups with either a captain, or a senior first officer ,or both in charge of the drills. On this particular occasion, I was in charge of the new second officers who were joining us and who were getting their first taste of emergency procedures out of the flight deck. With an inflatable dinghy in the pool, we took it in turns to jump into the water simulating an emergency where we had to hoist ourselves into the dinghy successfully. You were not allowed to assist the next person in, although in a real emergency, you would be doing just that, to help your passengers. The one thing about a great big dinghy, is that it's deceptive just how far and how much effort is required to hoik yourself over and into it. Once in the water, with your lifejacket, you have additional bulk to add to your own bodyweight. Now, I have in past exercises ended up underneath it, half astride it, nowhere near it, and eventually successfully but in an undignified manner in it. In a real emergency, this of course wouldn't matter and it wouldn't be given a second thought. However, in a small group setting, wanting to display an effective technique, ending up tangled in the grab ropes with one leg in and one leg at an angle that shouldn't be physically possible, all dignity goes out of the window, much to my dismay. 

In spite of a very busy flying schedule, I was still able to teach students the flying club most weekends, as well as conducting ground school sessions. I had a good number of students at that time and one more was soon to be added. Now, he wandered into the airfield late one Saturday afternoon, just as I was finishing the day's ground school. He was slightly taller than me and very skinny. He respectfully asked if he could discuss some flying lessons with me, and of course I said yes. He was so very keen to fly,  he told me he had been bitten by the flying bug very early on in his childhood. And although his family were poor, he had an uncle who was willing to enable him to achieve his dream. He was passionate and dedicated, and had started reading through flight manuals before he ever decided to approach us for lessons. I was impressed with his dedication, and I understood it so well.  In the following weeks, we enrolled him in the private pilot's license course on the understanding that if he completed the course successfully, he would plan to go to the academy in Zaria, to complete his commercial pilot's license, and from there hopefully join the world of commercial aviation. He stood out, always dressed nicely in his white shirt and black trousers and was always asking questions. He always respectfully called me maam, which made me feel quite old, but I appreciated his politeness. He was without doubt one of the most dedicated and enthusiastic students I'd ever taught. There was only one drawback to this scenario, and it was a big one. He just couldn't handle the aircraft safely.

He seemed to struggle right from the very start. Basic flight maneuvers had to be repeated time and time again with alarming regularity. At first, I thought it was nerves, but very soon it became apparent that he just didn't have the prerequisites to handle an aircraft. I carried out extended ground school sessions with him on my own time to try to help. But as we approached 25 hours with no sign of a first solo flight, I knew that I had to make some difficult decisions about his continued training. I didn't take these lightly. I held many discussions with him about his progress, I sought advice and I arranged to check flight with an instructor from the flight Academy in Zaria that I had trained with in the US, and I continued to try to find different ways to help him become proficient. He failed his checkride and the recommendation was the same as mine. There was no improvement. I made a difficult decision to terminate his training. But I always felt so bad that I destroyed his dream. Even though I knew it was the right decision to make for his sake. A few years later, unfortunately, I would be proved right in the worst possible way. 

Back on the twin otters, I continued to build my flight hours towards a command. Soon it would be time to attain my airline transport pilot's license, ATPL for short, so that I could become a captain when the time was right. I would soon be returning to the US to build the number of requisite night hours for license issue. However, I was still wracked with indecision about job offers elsewhere. I confided in my chief pilot, and he understood my conflict, but he was certain that once I'd attained my ATPL, and with the length of experience i'd gained with the company, I would soon be offered a command. Now Bristow helicopters had given me my commercial start and had stood by me, giving me the same opportunities as the male pilots, and not making any distinction when it came to ability. I felt that I owed them my loyalty. 

I was still on the receiving end of a number of unhelpful comments, however, and as I moved to the left hand seat for line training, the comments grew more and more unkind. Some of the more bewildering ones where "I don't think that you can legally become a captain". "When you are married, your husband will not allow this". And my personal favorite from a female passenger no less. "We have to obey our menfolk, there is no way that a man will take instruction from a mere woman". It seemed to be a direct threat to some, that a woman be seen with the same authority as a man. For the most part, I responded by letting out a big sigh, and saying that they were welcome to their opinion, but it would make no difference because I was up here and they were back there. Walking to destination was always an option if  they preferred. It had become and would still be a part of my struggle as a woman in a culture that did not give equal footing to the sexes. People always had to have their say, whilst not fully appreciating the hurt that they inflicted, to make them feel better about themselves. Luckily, I was blessed with an ever thickening skin. Besides, they would soon have more than one or two women to pick on. Aero Contractors had a female pilot now, as did the German construction company Julius Berger. The Julius Berger operations were right next door to us alongside the police airwing. We struck up a friendship which provided much needed support at the same time, she had experienced the same kind of reception from her passengers and in some cases much worse. For her, there was also an element of racism involved and she was often told that her position as a co pilot was only to fulfill a quota. She was tough and determined though, and had a hard exterior. After all, she had to do all of this without the kind of support her colleagues should have given her. I tried to be that support as much as I could, and having witnessed some of the hostility she experienced firsthand, I knew it could have been worse. It was several years before I came to realize, that that time, had taken a heavy toll on her.

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'd 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 addresses. theskyispinkpilot@gmail.com or visit our website, www.skyispink.co.uk. 

In the next episode, I prepare for two months in the US to obtain my airline transport pilot's license. I experienced an interesting medical issue that I could only laugh at years later, and political upheaval rocks the country. 

Thank you and goodbye.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai