Hanadi Hindi Hopes To Fly For National Airline
In a country where women
are not allowed to drive, 25-year-old Hanadi Hindi hopes to become
the first female to fly one of Saudi Arabia's commerical jets.
Hanadi is not quite ready to sit in the cockpit of a Saudi Arabian
Airlines jumbo jet as yet. At the moment, she only has a Private
Pilot’s License (PPL) but she says she is determined to go on
to take a Commercial Pilot’s License and an Instrument Rating
(CPL and IR) from the same school — the Mideast Aviation
Academy in Jordan.
“My dream is to fly a plane of Saudi Arabian Airlines. If
this doesn’t happen, I’m pretty sure a Saudi private
company will hire me,” Hanadi told AFP by telephone from her
home in the holy city of Makkah. “I have become addicted to
flying,” she confesses.
Her father, Zakaria Hindi, a retired civil servant, is currently
arranging the financing of her costly pursuit. But judging from the
fact that he was the driving force behind her flying ambitions, the
chances are that money will not ground her.
“My father does not distinguish between boys and girls. He
treats us in the same way,” said Hanadi, who has two brothers
and four sisters. “He himself had aspired to be a pilot, but
could not realize his dream because of financial constraints. So he
encouraged me to become a pilot myself, since I have always been
inclined to study anything, and I felt I had to make his wish come
true,” she said.
“Captain Hanadi,” as she is already called, says she
can understand the thinking behind the ban on women’s driving
in Saudi Arabia, but argues that flying is different. “When a
woman drives a car, everyone sees her and she might be exposed to
unpleasant situations. But no one knows who’s in the
cockpit,” she reasoned. And she said she was perfectly
comfortable wearing a headscarf under her pilot’s cap.
Hanadi said she had both her parents to thank for being the
first Saudi female pilot, as they were standing by her every step
of the way, but was also receiving invaluable support from
prominent lawyer and rights activist Mohammad Saeed Tayyeb, who was
“opening doors” for her. Saudi Arabian Airlines has not
approached Hanadi, but a private Saudi firm has, she said.
“I want to serve my country by becoming a Saudi Arabian
Airlines pilot. If they don’t take me, then I will go for a
private company." Did she think the national carrier would hire a
woman? “I don’t know. But I’m
optimistic.”
Hanadi said the fact
that she had been acknowledged as the first Saudi woman pilot by
the Air Force’s Saqr Al-Jazira Aviation Museum in Riyadh,
where her picture is on display, amounted to “semi-official
recognition” by the government. She said she had also
received support from the cultural attaché at the Saudi
Embassy in Amman when she went to enroll at the Jordanian academy
in September 2002, although he did not have to look after her, as
she was a private student.
Zakaria Hindi recalled it all began when he was sitting by the
seafront with his daughter as a plane buzzed overhead and she asked
him what he was thinking about.
“That I wish I were a pilot,” she replied.