Originally Posted by
Asturias56
I think the headline FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 88 YEARS, SAA NOW HAS AN AFRICAN WOMAN PILOT CAPTAIN is quite astonishing - when you look at the progress of national pilots and women in the rest of the world
30 years since apartheid fell
Well the issue was SAA V1's rather long seniority list and time to command. Over 20 years towards the end. So whilst it's 30 year's since apartheid, someone like her would have gone into the SAAF flown fairly few hours annually and then eventually joined SAA at the bottom of the seniority list. She'd likely still be in the RHS had they not retrenched a large portion of the flight deck crew based on their skin colour, and retained others to meet certain demographic targets. There most certainly have been other ''African'' (which any of us born in Africa are by definition) women captains at other operators in SA. Many of them from previously disadvantaged backgrounds.