She used in her youth to dream of spreading her arms and flying high. The dream of flight petting her from childhood and filling her mind became a reality when she graduated from the College of Engineering, on her way to flying high piloting a skyrocketed plane and meeting the clouds.
Noha Ibrahim is an Egyptian woman who came from Upper Egypt with great dreams beyond the expectations of the environment in which she grew up in the city of Badari in Assiut Governorate. She is now the first Egyptian flight trainer and the third Egyptian woman to take command of an aircraft.
Women were able to achieve what human mind did not think they could do one day. Not only did she take high positions or get high degrees, or even break into areas where no one thought she could succeed, but she also became one of the first to train others to fly.
Nature of her work
Pilot Captain Noha Ibrahim, a trainer at Air Cairo, a subsidiary of the Egyptian national airline EgyptAir, says she is proud of what she has accomplished. She is the first Egyptian woman to train on a passenger plane, noting that training is one of the highest ranks a pilot can reach.
Captain Noha explained that she trains on Airbus 320 passenger plane after being a simulator instructor. She stressed that training is a sacred mission that requires special qualifications and specifications regarding the ability of the trainer to communicate information in a respectful and dignified manner with no condescendence or feeling of superiority towards the trainee.
With regard to the qualities of an accomplished instructor, Noha believes that he must have the ability to detect errors quickly and avoid them, specifying that training requires a quest for information and the establishment of a timely decision-making process.
Noha describes the civil aviation system as a complete system, adding that the success of a flight begins at the airport entrance and resides in the way all parties of this system deal with passengers.
The secret of success
"The success of any work depends on the love of the person who performs it, her loyalty and dedication to this work, her ability to innovate and excel, and the pursuit of self-realization away from the idea of financial reward," she said, insisting that in order to achieve prosperity and success there is a need to value work regardless of its scope and nature far from any financial counterpart.
Captain Noha advises the young pilots to make efforts and sacrifices in order to achieve their goal and not to limit their ambition, stressing that flying is a profession that requires focus and a permanent update in the light of developments and changes occurring in this vital field worldwide.
Nothing is impossible
Nothing is impossible as long as the will to achieve ambition exists," said Captain Noha. "Future is for mental not physical abilities, and achieving the objectives relies on struggle and continuous efforts away from frustration or despair."
Noha insists on the need to ignore any discrimination or attempt to discourage women or focus on failure over success. "We are all capable of defining our future by assessing our abilities, capacities and requirements in order to achieve our aspirations and dreams," she said.
As for the difficulties and obstacles she faced as a lady in dealing with male pilots during her career, Captain Noha says that a woman is the one to impose the way others deal with her and force them to respect her, by focusing on her work and her diligence in accomplishing her tasks, and with time everyone gets used to the presence of women in the profession.
It´s worth mentioning that Captain Noha Ibrahim joined Air Cairo in December 1995 on the Airbus 600, then switched to the Airbus 340 in 2005, then became a pilot on Airbus 320, then in 2016 became a flight simulator instructor, and is today an instructor on a passenger plane.