A Nigerian, Who At 15 Emerges World’s Youngest Female Pilot

A Nigerian, Kimberly Anyadike, a graduate of the After-School Programmes of the Tomorrow’s Aeronautical Museum (TAM), Compton, California, United States, earned her place in the Guinness Book of World Records as the youngest female to fly in a private plane from coast to coast. Cyber Africa writes on this achievement even as the whole world stand still for her.

A Nigerian female teenager, Kimberly Anyadike, age 15 became the toast of the world when she did what no one in her age has ever done before. At an age when many will either be carried away by peer pressure or still be trying to come to terms with what they really want to become in life, this young Nigerian is already a pilot and has single-handedly flew an airplane.

Former President Bill Clinton of the United States was moved by her achievement and personally wrote to her a congratulatory message, describing her as “an exceptional young person with a bright future. He said what Kimberly did was extraordinary and served as a clear indication that she is an outstanding individual. What makes her feat a rare one is that at 15, she was already a pilot.

Clinton’s congratulatory message to Kimberly reads: “Dear Kimberly, I heard that you recently became the youngest African-American female to complete a cross-country flight. Congratulations!

I’m so glad that Tomorrow Aeronautical Museum offered a venue for you to demonstrate your bravery and achieve your goals. What you did was extraordinary, and it served as a clear indication of the outstanding individual you are becoming.

You are an exceptional young person with a bright future, and you should always seize opportunities to do inspiring things.

With hard-work, persistence, and focus, you can accomplish so much – I hope you will carry this lesson with you as you grow older.

I send my best wishes for success and happiness in all you do.”

Because of her American citizenship, though of Nigerian parenthood, she was given a title of “the youngest African-American female to fly in a private airplane from coast-to-coast.” She piloted a single-engine red-tail four-seater Cessna 172 airplane in the United States from Compton, California to Newport News, Virginia and back.

Kimberly who initially wanted to become a cardiovascular surgeon single-handedly flew the plane without a serious technical support, except that she was accompanied by a safety and commercial pilot, Ronell Norman and Tuskegee-trained airman, Levi Thornhill.

Precisely in 2008, Kimberly’s elder sister, Kelly, had set a world record as “the youngest African-American female to go solo in four different fixed-wing aircraft on the same day.” At that time, she was 16 years old. Kelly and Kimberly were inspired and sponsored by the Tuskegee Airmen, who run the Tomorrow’s Aeronautical Museum (TAM) programme.

The Tuskegee Airmen are an elite group of black pilots, who flew missions during World War II, when the United States Air Force was racially segregated. They operate a programme called Tomorrow’s Aeronautical Museum (TAM), an organisation which provides scholarships and after-school programmes for aspiring young pilots. The organisation encourages young people involvement in aviation as an alternative to drugs, gang violence and other self-destructive activities. While TAM advocates build and woo young talents to the aviation industry, through its programme, the organisation also provides the elementary, middle, and high school students with the opportunity to work one-on-one with qualified tutors, mentors and aviation staff for at least five days per week.
However, to qualify and maintain a continued stay on the programme, it is required that students maintain above average grades and stay out of trouble.

TAM in a statement about its programme said: “We have concluded that their newfound interest in aviation and relevant historical events improves their overall academic performance as well as their behaviour in school.”

In its few years of existence, the TAM had already set nine world records, some of which include those won by Jonathan Strickland, Breean Farfan, Jimmy Haywood, and Kenny Royhave, who at one time or the other had set world record as young pilots. The outstanding performance of these TAM graduates bore an eloquent testimony to what has been described as “the positive results of the life-changing programmes” offered by Tomorrow’s Aeronautical Museum. And all were said to have stayed focused and inspired with the help of The Tuskegee Airmen.

According to Kimberly she said she hoped her accomplishments inspire other young people. “The sky is no longer the limit,” Kimberly said.

The Anyadike sisters’ desire to fly was inspired by the achievements of Mae Jemison, the first African American female to travel in space and Bessie Coleman, the first African-American airline pilot.