{"id":10134,"date":"2020-07-16T18:18:13","date_gmt":"2020-07-16T18:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/?p=10134"},"modified":"2020-07-16T18:18:13","modified_gmt":"2020-07-16T18:18:13","slug":"obituary-tolulope-arotile-nigerias-first-female-combat-helicopter-pilot-dies-in-accident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/2020\/07\/16\/obituary-tolulope-arotile-nigerias-first-female-combat-helicopter-pilot-dies-in-accident\/","title":{"rendered":"OBITUARY: Tolulope Arotile: Nigeria\u2019s first female combat helicopter pilot dies in accident"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

While the motive for joining the military by some is to wriggle out of the burden of unemployment, for Tolulope Arotile, it was simply a passion she had fanned from childhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All that Tolulope Oluwatoyin Sarah Arotile dreamt of was to join the military and fly an aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne day \u2014 when she was very small \u2014 she pointed to one small aircraft parked on a field and said, \u2018Dad, one day I am going to fly that aircraft,\u2019 and I said amen,\u201d her father, Akintunde Arotile, recalled in a Punch newspaper interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since that day she did not look back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Born in 1995, that childhood yearning would become a reality September 22, 2012, after she was admitted into the Nigerian Defence Academy and commissioned five years later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She made history in October 2019, when she was winged as Nigeria\u2019s first female combat helicopter pilot in the Nigerian Air Force\u2019s 55 years of existence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At her decoration last October, flanked by the chief of air staff, Sadique Abubakar, an air marshal, and the women affairs minister, Pauline Tallen, she marched to receive her \u201cwing\u201d with such immaculate finesse that mirrored her passion for the job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI joined the military simply out of passion for it. Being a military personnel has been a long term ambition for me,\u201d she said in an interview shared by the Nigerian Air Force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe carriage and what they stand for is simply exceptional,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not that she had no other qualifications to chase other job opportunities as she had a degree in mathematics. But for her, being in the military was all she craved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her profile was well scripted in a tribute released by NAF, where she was described as a \u201cvery intelligent, disciplined, confident and courageous young officer who added value wherever she served.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Short but impactful service\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

An official release<\/a><\/strong> by the Nigerian Air Force says as of October 2019, Tolulope had acquired 460 hours (about 19 days) of flight within 14 months in flying a helicopter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those hours of flying were partly spent as a squadron pilot in Operation Gama Aiki in Minna, Niger State, and across the North-central, where she flew her quota of the anti-banditry bombardments to rid the area of terror.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The native of Iffe area of Ijumu LGA of \u200b\u200bKogi State and fourth child of her family attended the Air Force Primary (2000\u20142005) and Secondary Schools (2006\u20142011), Kaduna.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In September 2012, she was admitted into the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna, as a member of the 64 regular course, where she finished from in 2017, bagged a degree in mathematics, and was commissioned as a pilot officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She was winged as the first ever female combat helicopter pilot in the Nigerian Air Force two years later, having completed pilot training courses at the Starlite International Training Academy, South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhile one of the two pilots is the first female fighter pilot in the 55 years history of the NAF, the second one is the first female combat helicopter pilot,\u201d air chief Sadique Abubakar said at the October event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe second (Tolulope Arotile) graduated from Starlite International Training Academy. They both performed excellently well during their training.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She would later become Nigeria\u2019s first female combat helicopter pilot to be so winged. The only other woman after her to reach that feat is Chinelo Nwokoye, who was winged May this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Nigeria's<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ms Arotile held a commercial pilots\u2019 licence and had also undergone tactical flying training on the Agusta 109 Power Attack Helicopter in Italy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In February, during an induction in Abuja, she introduced Nigeria\u2019s newly acquired Agusta 109 Power Attack Helicopter to President Buhari.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

February 2020: Flying Officer Tolulope Arotile, Nigeria\u2019s first female combat helicopter pilot, taking the C-in-C on a tour of new combat helicopters acquired by the Nigerian Air Force @NigAirForce<\/a>. pic.twitter.com\/kpdv0QWCEg<\/a><\/p>— tolu ogunlesi (@toluogunlesi) May 6, 2020<\/a><\/blockquote>