Chinyere Kalu

Chinyere Kalu (nee Onyenucheya, born 1970) is the first Nigerian Woman to be licensed a commercial pilot and the first woman to fly an aircraft in Nigeria.

Quotes

2012

• I didn’t want to do what everyone else was doing at the time. I wanted something unique, something special, something challenging, something that would be fulfilling.
  • [1]
  • Speaking on the motivating factor that made her go into a male-dominated profession.

• If you are not from the ‘right part’ of the country, if you don’t speak the ‘right language’, you won’t get all the support and encouragement.
  • [2]
  • Reflecting on her aviation journey.

• I believe in you, all you need to do is to show me that you can go up and come down on your own. Go ahead, I am praying for you and I know you will succeed.
  • [3]
  • Citing words of encouragement she would give her students on their first solo flight.

• We have to train our people, Africans in particular, so that we can manage our airlines by ourselves and when this happens, we are sure of having vibrant airlines within our sub-region as well as making the aviation industry in Africa a more competitive industry all over the world.
  • [4]
  • Speaking on the major reason most African National carriers collapsed.

2020

• They even made things more difficult for me for having the effrontery to come into a domain that was exclusively for men.
  • [5]
  • From an interview she granted on the challenges faced while studying to be a pilot.

• If the right people can be put in the right places, we would be able to float an airline that would be successful.
  • [6]
  • from an interview she granted on the challenges she will like to see in the aviation industry.

• A man should not feel threatened irrespective of the position his wife occupies because God has made him the head. Rather, he should always take care of her and never maltreat her. It is a situation that the husband and wife have to work through.
  • [7]
  • From an interview she granted on men who don’t seem to like their wives being more successful than them.