Adeola Ogunmola Sowemimo, the First Nigerian Woman to Fly Boeing 787

Adeola Ogunmola Sowemimo, the First Nigerian Woman to Fly Boeing 787

Adeola Ogunmola Sowemimo is the first Nigerian female Boeing 787 pilot and the first Nigerian female pilot to fly Qatar Airways. Through hard work and persistence, Adeola Ogunmola continues to break grounds in her career.

Adeola Ogunmola started her aviation career by completing her Standard Aviation Course in 2010. In 2011 she received her Commercial Pilot Licence from Sunrise Aviation (Ormond Beach, Florida) and a bachelor’s degree in Transport Management from Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomosho, Oyo State.

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After her training, Adeola joined Medview Operations, Abuja in 2013, Where she served until October 2018, initially as the first officer on Boeing 737 classic, and later as Boeing 767-300ER. In October 2018, Adeola joined Qatar Airways and became the first Nigerian woman to fly the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. This sparked lots of reactions on the internet with lots of accolades showered on her. It was indeed an inspiration to younger women aspiring to gain ground in aviation. She also flew the Boeing 767 Aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean, and in November 2020 she started flying the new Qatar airways local Lagos to Abuja route.

Adeola is one of the other African female pilots rewriting the African narrative in the diaspora such as the likes of Chinyere Kalu, the first Nigerian female commercial pilot in 1978; Asli Hassan Abade of Somalia who had her first solo flight in 1976, and Ghanaian Millicent Melody Danquah who flew solo for the first time in a de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk aircraft in 1964.

Adeola is a true representation of women breaking the status quo. She is an inspiration to younger generations and continues to make us proud.