At the age of 19, ambitious teenager Besa Mumba became Zambia’s youngest commercial pilot.
Mumba secured her dream job as a pilot flying with the nation’s scheduled airline, Proflight Zambia, which is at the forefront of training and nurturing young talent. According to Mumba, curiosity made her venture into an aviation career.
Shortly after receiving grade 12 results in March 2013, Besa was accepted to attend the South African Flight Training Academy in Heidelberg, Gauteng. There she started her Private Pilot Licence course in April 2013 and began flying the same month. The flight training course lasted two years.
To get her commercial licence she underwent extra and more complex training at SIMU Flight in Pretoria. Through the first quarter of 2015, she did final training towards obtaining a Commercial Pilots Licence, which she earned in July of that year at the age of 18.
According to Proflight Zambia, Mumba who was appointed as a First Officer in her first month has already flown more than 15 hours, on Zambian domestic routes to Kasama, Lower Zambezi, and Luangwa, flying alongside the captain of the aircraft on the airline’s Caravan aircraft.
Mumba shattered the country’s aviation glass ceiling and she will undoubtedly inspire young girls and women in Zambia and across the continent to follow their dreams and reach for their goals.
This article was culled from Pilot Career News.
