Selase Agbenyefia or Selase Yaaya Agbenyefia (born 1978) is an officer in the Ghana Air Force and she became the first

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

ian female helicopter pilot.

Life

Agbenyefia was born in 1978 and 1989 she started at Mawuko Girls Secondary School. Two years later she was at Mawuli Secondary School. She took a BSc in Business Administration at the

University of Ghana The University of Ghana is a public university located in Accra, Ghana. It the oldest and largest of the thirteen Ghanaian national public universities. The university was founded in 1948 as the University College of the Gold Coast in the Br ...

, graduating in 2009. Agbenyefia also holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Public Administration from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration. Agbenyefia had gained the unusual ambition of becoming a pilot. She applied to join the air force but when she turned up with the other recruits she found that she had been assigned to the army. She challenged this with

Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Joseph Narh Adinkra Major General Joseph Narh Adinkra is a Ghanaian military officer who served as Chief of Army Staff (Ghana), Chief of Army Staff of the Ghana Army from 31 March 2009 to 4 April 2013... Military career In March 2009, Adinkra was appointed as Chief ...

and she was told that the air force did not take women. She challenged this and her tenacity was rewarded when she was sent away with other prospective pilots for training. The prospective candidates were reduced to 20 and then to 15 when they were based at the Ghana Military Academy at Teshie in

Accra Accra (; tw, Nkran; dag, Ankara; gaa, Ga or ''Gaga'') is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , ...

. Her first flight was in an Aero L-29 Delfín Jet Trainer which she first flew with Air Commodore Philip Ayisa in September 1998. There had been women pilots before in Ghana but the two who did fly retired after the 1966 coup in Ghana, so she was the first for 35 years, it is said that she is the first woman pilot of military helicopters in West Africa for 48 years. In 2015 she was credited with saving President

John Mahama John Dramani Mahama (; born 29 November 1958) is a Ghanaian politician who served as President of Ghana from 24 July 2012 to 7 January 2017. He previously served as Vice President of Ghana from January 2009 to July 2012, and took office as presi ...

's life when she made an unscheduled landing.

Flight Experience

* Rating: Command Pilot * Flight hours: more than 1800 * Aircraft: Aero L-29 Delfín, AgustaWestland AW109,

Bell 412 The Bell 412 is a utility helicopter of the Huey family manufactured by Bell Helicopter. It is a development of the Bell 212, with the major difference being the composite four-blade main rotor. Design and development Development began in the ...

and

Mil Mi-17 The Mil Mi-17 ( NATO reporting name: Hip) is a Soviet-designed Russian military helicopter family introduced in 1975 (Mi-8M), continuing in production at two factories, in Kazan and Ulan-Ude. It is known as the Mi-8M series in Russian servic ...

Awards

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Agbenyefia, Selase 1978 births Living people Helicopter pilots University of Ghana alumni Mawuli School alumni