I can't resist...good news of Afghanistan is so rare. Being as how my dad was part of bringing airplanes there in the very beginning, it has double spec..."/>

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

Female pilot helps Afghan air force take off

POSTED BY: NIKI2
UPDATED: Friday, May 7, 2010 09:16
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VIEWED: 631
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Friday, May 7, 2010 9:16 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


I can't resist...good news of Afghanistan is so rare. Being as how my dad was part of bringing airplanes there in the very beginning, it has double special meaning to me, and I think it's just plain NEAT:
Quote:

Decades ago, Afghanistan's air force was in full operation. Today, that air force is being rebuilt, with some of the same helicopters and some of the same pilots as well - including the first woman in the Afghan Air Corps and currently the only one.

The only time Capt. Latifa Nabizada left the force was to flee to Pakistan when the Taliban took over in the 1990s - a woman pilot was a prime target for them.

"I wanted to be a pilot since I was a child," she says. "I also, as a woman, felt it was a responsibility to serve my country. So I joined 20 years ago. ... I stayed in because it's the love of my life, and I still feel the responsibility to not give it up."
Today, she is one of about 50 pilots training in Kabul, with a few others elsewhere in Afghanistan. And U.S. forces are helping mentor the pilots, training them on modern air force techniques for the 50 or so aircraft in the Afghan air force fleet.

Nabizada revels in the new training: "I've seen remarkable changes since we started this. We get training in air traffic control, pre-flight checklists, English language, instruments, navigation. These are skills we didn't have before."

On the training base in Kabul, a regular sight is Nabizada's 4-year-old daughter Malali.

"Being a pilot and a mother is hard, actually," Nabizada says. "My husband is a doctor in the air force and we have no one to take care of her, so she comes with me every day. One day I'd like to see childcare in the air force."

Until then, Malali learns first hand about her country's air force and her mother's groundbreaking role. Will she follow in her mother's footsteps in the future? "Exactly," says Nabizada. "She will be a pilot in the future."

video at http://afghanistan.blogs.cnn.com/2010/05/07/female-pilot-helps-afghan-
air-force-take-off/?hpt=Sbin


She'll probably have to escape again if/when the Taliban take over, but for now, I'm happy for her!


"I'm just right. Kinda like the sun rising in the east and the world being round...its not a need its just the way it is." The Delusional "Hero", 3/1/10

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