US pilot looks to become first black woman to fly solo around the world
This summer, 23-year-old Leona Serao, is looking to make history by becoming the first black woman to fly solo around the world, according to sources.
“The fact that I’m going to be the first one, means I’m going to be able to inspire other Black and other African people who want to join the aviation field,” she said.
According to Yahoo News, Serao plans to begin her 3-month round-the-globe journey from New York City in early August, and, before returning home, it will take her to 33 countries across four continents.
To date, there have been 142 solo flights around the world, according to Earthrounders, a site that tracks the feat. Just 11 of the pilots have been women and none of those have been black.
There are just over 158,000 licensed pilots in the US, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Of that number, just 2.6 per cent of pilots, or about 4,100, are black and less than one per cent, or about 150, are black women.
Born in the US, Serao was raised in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the second-largest country in Africa where just three women are licensed pilots. Serao hopes her journey will inspire other young girls there.
“It is a challenge because it’s a male-dominated field and women didn’t really get the opportunity to be pilots before,” she said. “We couldn’t even drive before [the 20th century]. And in the aviation industry, it stayed like that,” she said.
In 2007, Jamaican-born American pilot Barrington Irving became the first black person to fly around the world solo. Like Serao, he was also 23 when he made his flight.
