Against all odds, a young female pilot reaches the stars

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26-year-old Boitumelo Katisi was brought up by a single mother in Pimville, Soweto and later moved to Sunninghill in the north of Johannesburg. She recently obtained her commercial pilot license and now pursuing an instructor’s rating qualification at Loutzavia Flight School at the Wonderboom Airport in Pretoria. Growing up, Tumi had not encountered any pilots, in fact, she had no knowledge of the aviation industry until grade 10. She recalls her class being sent on an assignment to their desired future workplaces. She went to South African Airways (SAA), to inquire about how the airline industry works.

Tumi got bored and was not interested in the admin side of the airline and her aunt decided to take her to the airline pilot section. Tumi says the first items she noticed were the pilot caps and jackets lined up and that got her excited. “I saw pilots walking in and out but they were only males,” she said. Tumi was told there were only ten female pilots at the SAA at the time and they were actually looking to recruit more. She fell in love with the aviation industry and spent her spare time at the SAA during school holidays.

When the time came for Tumi to further her studies, she encountered financial challenges which were compounded by the limited bursary opportunities in aviation. The qualification was costly and her mother could only afford to pay for her flying account when she could which meant when her flying account ran low she had to sit at home for 2/3 weeks. This caused an inconvenience as she struggled to keep up.

Having wasted so much time, she took it upon herself to research every company that could fund her studies. Tumi says she drafted a motivational letter, investigated every company she could think of and sent emails hoping for a positive response. “Unfortunately, the responses weren’t so great and I could tell some hadn’t bothered to read the letter while some responded with a simple no,” she explains.

Very close to giving up, Tumi received a call from the supermarket chain, Pick n Pay and they wanted to fund her studies the following year. Within the same week after the windfall from Pick n Pay, a Swiss luxury watchmaker, Breitling made contact with her.  They presented her with an R80, 000 watch she could giveaway subsequent to a raffle draw. She had 600 tickets she could sell R100 each. Tumi managed to sell over 300 tickets before receiving a call from the National Lottery requesting her to abolish the ruffle competition because it was deemed illegal and she had to return the money she had received from hopeful participants. Fortunately for her, about 98% of the ticket holders identified with her cause and told her to keep the money. With her never say die attitude, Tumi managed to auction off the watch and raise half of its monetary value.

With the proceeds received, Tumi went on to attend a girl camp where females in the aviation industry were invited; it was at this camp where she met her friend Beejal Govan from SAA. Beejal shared Tumi’s story on 94.7 FM and to the latter’s surprise, mining giant Anglo American and E Oppenheimer & sons sponsored her pursuit for a commercial license. The following year Tumi received her private pilot license and commenced with her Commercial pilot license training. However, she wanted to get a multi-engine license so she applied for funds at the Transport Education Training Authority (TETA) and got a positive response and contribution. As a result of the financial issues, it took Tumi four years to complete her qualification. Tumi says she is goal driven and when she puts her mind to something, she will achieve it. “There are young kids looking up to me so no matter how hard it became I simply couldn’t give up, I told myself I’d obtain that license even if it took me 16 years,” she states.

When describing her first solo flight, a big smile appears in her faces as she explains that it was her best experience and the scariest as well. “Landing is the most difficult part when it comes to flying, anyone can take off with a plane but not everyone can land it,” she explains.

“Landing was the most difficult part, everyone can take off but it’s not everyone who can land but I did it,” she explains.

Tumi believes the dismal black female pilot representation is influenced by the fact that lots of women believe aviation is a field reserved for men. Another factor is the lack of information about aviation.

When Tumi was asked if she had advice for girls who would like to follow in her footsteps, she said they should chase the passion and not the money. “Money will somehow follow you if you are doing something you are passionate about,” she states.

Tumi says in order to be a pilot, you have to be passionate because the aviation career is not easy and when you are passionate about something you won’t give up regardless of the difficulties you have to endure. “Flying is not for the faint-hearted so it’s important to be passionate about it, have a vision and make sure you achieve your goal,” she explains.

Tumi and her colleagues visit rural and township schools where they share information about the aviation industry.

Photo: Instagram