Something rather amazing happened in February, although it may have “flown under the radar” for you. It took place when an all woman crew landed a Royal Brunei flight in February in Saudi Arabia.
This flight took place on February 23, the day that is officially Brunei’s national day. It was a Boeing 787 Dreamliner that landed in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Although the fact that the plane landed in the area is unremarkable, the fact that women pilots were manning the plane is amazing. After all, they can’t even drive a car in that area legally.
The story began to gain attention after it was posted on Reddit Monday. This also coincided with the Women of Aviation Worldwide Week.
It is estimated that approximately 4000 female pilots out of 130,000 total pilots exist worldwide. Of those, only 450 women are captains.
A photo posted by Royal Brunei Airlines (@royalbruneiair) on
Only men are legally allowed to obtain driver’s license in Saudi Arabia. If a woman were to be caught driving in the country, they could be fined and arrested. What is interesting is that there aren’t any regulations stopping women from getting their pilots license in that country. The first woman to do so received hers in 2014.
Royal Brunei is currently working to get more women in the air. They are doing this through 2 programs, a cadet pilot program and an engineering apprentice program.
A photo posted by Royal Brunei Airlines (@royalbruneiair) on
An 18-year-old woman recently became the seventh female training in their cadet pilot program. Another inductee stated he was inspired by his older sister, who was the sixth woman in the program.
Sharifah Czarena Surainy, who was the captain of that plane, had the following to say about piloting an aircraft into the area:
“As a woman, a Bruneian woman, it is such a great achievement. It’s really showing the younger generation or the girls especially that whatever they dream of, they can achieve it.”
Brunei has a number of issues in their own dealings with women. Throughout the world, they are ranked 23rd for opportunity and economic participation but they fall dead last for political empowerment of women. They are even behind Saudi Arabia.
Via: Mashable
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