It’s true, the journey to becoming a Pilot starts off as a love story. She had almost given up on her dream. Ideally, she wanted to commence with her Pilot training straight after high school but was financially challenged and even then, had never been on board an airplane. Her parents were struggling back then so her only option was to start working. Within the following years she got a job at a pharmacy store where she met a 35-year-old lady who had just had her solo flight earlier that morning. The bizarre thing is that she herself had worked at the same pharmacy, in my junior position and watched the years go by until she decided to take charge. She introduced her to the concept ‘pay-as-you-go flying’ and advised that she too could fly while working.
Busisiwe began her training in 2018 and her instructor asked if she had ever been on an airplane, she lied. Her first time in the sky was on her intro flight in a Piper Warrior. Nervous but unshaken, she knew it was destiny!
South Africa remains a developing country with various political issues that affect specific demographics; financial assistance in Aviation is still very scarce. As a black woman, she found it twice as hard to source out funds and an Aviation career is not so popular around her townships. They lack both the resources and opportunities. She worked for the company Diners Club International to help pay her tuition at U-fly Training Academy in Rand Airport. She is also an author and has published a short work of fiction with Black Letter Media in early 2018. She attends national airshows religiously and has had the honor to meet the iconic Puma Flying Lions.
What she enjoys most about flying is the sudden escape it offers once you take-off, to be able to leave behind all her doubts, problems and fears on the ground and focus only on what’s ahead. Scenery is a bonus!
She has a strong desire to subseuently build partnerships with more female pilots soon and reignite the passion that haunts financially incapable, aspiring pilots like herself.
- The first recipient of the African Section 99s to be awarded the First Wings Award Scholarship.