More female pilots needed in the cockpit
Helicopter pilot Georgette Mieze is living proof that with dedication and hard work, anything is possible. She is not only a pilot; Mieze is a deputy commissioner and head of Aviation, Auxiliary service and Aircrew Training Management Division for the Namibian Police.
She was promoted to the new rank last August by Inspector General of the Namibian Police Force, Lieutenant General Sebastian Haitota Ndeitunga, along with two other equally deserving women pilots.
“This is an achievement to me during my piloting journey. My journey is not strange, and I have enjoyed it to the fullest so far,” she told Nampa – just as she was getting ready to fly a helicopter for her day-to-day crime patrol around Windhoek.
Born in Windhoek and raised at the Otjihere village in Otjinene Constituency, Mieze (35) joined the police force in 2010 after matriculating from Wennie du Plessis High School in Gobabis.
She graduated as a commercial helicopter pilot training in Mossel Bay, South Africa, in 2012 – and at the time, she was the only female student at that training institution.
She became a captain in the police force in 2017.
Mieze expressed that although there is still some stereotyping from a section of the community who do not want to be flown by female pilots, the “discrimination is dying a natural death”, and the industry is now open to everyone.
“We can achieve what our male counterparts can achieve equally,” she stated.
Mieze urged young ones who want to become pilots to be disciplined, especially when it comes to their social life, saying there are strict rules to which they have to adhere to.
She noted that adequate rest is important for pilots, and that they need to be disciplined and focused.
Namibia currently has 2 200 pilots – and out of that number, 110 are female pilots. There are also 13 female engineers and 30 female traffic controllers in the country.
Namibia Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) acting senior manager of personnel licensing Rodney Theron encouraged young girls to take up flying, adding that the NCAA annually offers bursaries to students who want to become traffic controllers.
The Namibia Students’ Financial Assistance Fund (NSFAF) also funds students, and it is currently financing 80 students, who are being trained as pilots, and 20 of them are females.