THE story begins with a kite. When she was four, she adored playing with her colourful kite, letting it fly high, up among the birds. One day, she saw her elder brother playing with his remote-control model plane. It slowly moved across the ground then gently proceeded to become airborne right there before her very eyes. She admired this toy and convinced her brother to swap it for her doll. Soon, flying remote-control model planes became an allconsuming hobby for her. When she was ten, she went to the Cairo International Book Fair, held each year in Nasr City. The fair is a cultural landmark, attracting intellectuals, publishers, writers and book lovers from all around the world. There are always thousands of books on sale, covering every topic imaginable. But all the little schoolgirl wanted was to buy an aviation encyclopaedia. The man on the stall told her the price, but she couldn't afford it, so he sympathetically told her to come back each day and read a few pages. Her determination never wavered and, a few years later, she enrolled in the Faculty of Engineering, having done well in her Thanawiya Amma (General Secondary School Certificate) exams. Later, she transferred to the Institute of Aviation Engineering and Technology. "I now fly an Airbus A320," says Noha Abdel Rahman proudly. The Airbus A320 is a short- to medium-range commercial passenger airliner manufactured by Airbus. Noha is not Egypt's first woman pilot. There were a handful of others before her, but she's the only one working as such at the moment. "Two others who are older than me have gone abroad. Another one qualified after me but she's on leave. There are two more who taught us at the Institute," she explains. Being a pilot is not easy, as you're responsible for a plane costing tens of millions of dollars, as well as for hundreds of passengers. Moreover, a pilot must have the physical ability to tolerate differences in air pressure and lack of oxygen. Perfect vision and health are also a must. "We must pass medical and other tests every six months for our pilot's licence to be renewed," she told the Egyptian Mail. Noha, who wears a cap, a white blouse with a cravat and dark blue trousers, joined the company in December 1995. She worked as a co-pilot before being promoted to full pilot in 2004. She has faced many airborne problems, such as engine fire, engine failure, and hydraulic and electrical problems. She says that every six months she is given training in how to deal with such problems. The biggest nuisance for her is delays. "Delays caused by passengers or delays in the air for whatever reason make the journey long and burdensome," she explains. Noha, 42, is the mother of twins a girl and a boy, both aged 10. She was a co-pilot when her future husband, an engineer, proposed to her. "I told him that I loved flying, as much as a fish loves water. He appreciated how I felt and let me carry on flying after we'd got married," she says, laughing. Her mother has always had a great influence on her, right from the very beginning. It was she who encouraged her daughter to join the Institute, despite her father's initial hesitance. But he soon had a change of heart, when he realised how much Noha wanted to fly. "My mother, God rest her soul, helped me so much. When I joined the Institute in 1988, the fees were very expensive, LE30,000 (One dollar = LE5.50) for a three-year course. The money my mother gave me was not sufficient, so I worked as an air hostess and studied at the same time. It was a very arduous experience," Noha recalls. All this hard work affected her social life. She never went to clubs or summer resorts and rarely attended weddings or birthday parties. So, as a result, she had very few friends. Her life is still very busy. Imagine it's winter and you're fast asleep under a nice thick blanket. At 2am, the alarm clock goes off and you have to get up to pilot a night flight. "The company car comes to my home and picks me up three hours before take-off. I have to be at the airport an hour and a half beforehand," she says, explaining that this gives her time to check the plane and its cargo. Many Egyptian passengers are surprised to find a woman piloting a plane. Some men can't accept this idea. "Many Egyptian men still can't believe that there are female pilots in Egypt, even when they hear my name," she explains. She recalls that one day she touched down at an airport in Greece and one of the passengers, an elderly Egyptian man, said:"Never in my entire life have I ridden in a car with a woman at the wheel. Now in my twilight years, a woman flies me all the way to Athens!" "Anyway, there is no difference between a man and woman in this line of business. It's a case of to be or not to be," Noha says, with a knowing twinkle.
