Did you know that Captain Adeola Ogunmola Sowemimo made history by being the first Nigerian female pilot to fly the Boeing 787 Dreamliner for Qatar Airways and the Boeing 767 Aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean?

Captain Adeola Ogunmola Sowemimo, in 2019, became became the first Nigerian female pilot to work for Qatar Airways in the Middle East, in a region that is challenging for women. She became the first female Nigerian to fly the Boeing 787 Dreamliner for Qatar Airways.

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner for Qatar Airways is an American wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, which entered commercial service on October 26, 2011. This advanced airplane can reach speeds of Mach 0.85, or about 1,024 kilometers per hour. Adeola pilots this impressive machine, safely flying 250 passengers across the world.

She is also the first Nigerian female pilot to fly the Boeing 767 Aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean, being in the same league with Kenya's Captain Irene Koki, and Ethiopia's Captain Amsale Gulau.

Born on October 16, 1990, in Kaduna, Nigeria, Adeola went to several schools in both Kaduna and Ibadan due to challenges like religious conflicts. However, she remained focused and completed her secondary education at First Baptist Model High School in Kaduna in 2007.

After her secondary school, she started a pre-degree course at Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) in Oyo State. But her passion for flying took over, and she enrolled at the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology in Zaria, where she completed her aviation training from 2009 to 2010 before going to Florida, United States of America (USA) for further training at Sunrise Aviation Inc. where she graduated in 2011.

Adeola soon returned to Nigeria to start her flying career after her pilot training was done. In 2013, she began working for Medview Airlines in Lagos as a First Officer on Boeing 737 planes. Her skills quickly earned her a promotion to fly the Boeing 767-300ER. 

However, her biggest breakthrough came in 2018 when she joined Qatar Airways as the first Nigerian woman to pilot the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Also, her skills have taken her on transatlantic flights with the Boeing 767, and in 2020, she started flying the Lagos-to-Abuja route for Qatar Airways.

With her feat, Adeola has now joined a group of pioneering African female pilots like Chinyere Kalu (Nigeria’s first female commercial pilot) and Asli Hassan Abade (Somalia’s first female aviator).

Captain Adeola is not just a successful pilot; she’s also a wife and mother. She married Seun Funmi Olamilekan Sowemimo on April 22, 2017. Her feat is a demonstration that with determination any achievement is possible.

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