How to Empower the Next Generation of Pilots | Refilwe Ledwaba | TED

Sometimes we tend to make people part of the problem only, but we don't make people part of the success.

We're quick to say, "These were my challenges," but we're not quick to say, "But this person removed this barrier and this person removed this one." We need to start telling those stories.

My name is Refilwe Ledwaba. I’m a helicopter and airplane pilot.

I'm also an educator. I'm a founder of Girls Fly Africa, an organization that is teaching the next generation of young people, especially women, to learn how to fly.

I started as an air hostess and then transitioned into a helicopter pilot, then an airplane pilot for an airline, and then a flight instructor.

I was the first Black woman in South Africa to actually fly helicopters.

When I was still a cabin attendant, some of the pilots used to come to me and they’re like, “You’re so smart, you should be flying the airplane.” They would call me during landings, you know, during take-offs.

And I remember the captain, he actually looked at me, like, "Can you see what you're missing?" I’m like, “This is awesome!

This is what I want to do.” That was the turning point where I actually started taking seriously that this is something that I really wanted to do because it was beautiful.

But I had major challenges along the way.

When I was training as a helicopter pilot, I had difficulty with a maneuver called hovering.

It is a highly coordinated maneuver. The helicopter will move from one corner to the other because I'll put like one hand and then one hand, and it just didn't click.