The first African-American female pilot for the D.C. National Guard always wanted to fly
As a young girl growing up in Tennessee, Demetria Dina Elosiebos nights were filled with dreams of her soaring through the night sky, her four younger siblings giddily clinging to her back. Sometimes they reached 30 feet, other times 1,000 depending on her faith that day.
Ever since I was 7 or 8, I would have dreams about literally carrying my siblings on my back, Elosiebo said. And in my dreams, I was like flapping my wings like a chicken, and I could at some point carry two of them. But as they got bigger, I could only carry one. And I was like, Im going to have to do something about this.
Now, those long ago dreams of taking flight have become reality. Thirty-three-year-old Elosiebo recently graduated from Army flight school, becoming the first African-American female aviator in the District of Columbia National Guard. She joins an elite group; only 5 percent of the Army National Guards 5,763 pilots are women.
Its an honor to come behind so many people, said Elosiebo, a Black Hawk helicopter pilot.
No one in her family was in the military or knew how to fly, but from an early age, Elosiebo knew she wanted to be a pilot.
So she started taking flying lessons at small aviation programs for children near her Memphis home. While visiting a flying group called the Memphis Blackhawks Aviation Association, her mother said, her then 12-year-old daughter learned a valuable lesson: Your gender doesnt matter when it comes to flying a plane.
I clearly remember her saying, Oh, women can fly? said her mom, Renee Elosiebo. And the pilot (who was a woman) said, Of course they can.
That day, Elosiebo got to co-pilot the plane. And from then on she was giddy and wanted to go back again and again.
Most children say they want to do something when theyre younger, and then they change their desires many times, Renee Elosiebo said. But hers never changed she wanted to fly.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/the-first-african-american-female-pilot-for-the-dc-national-guard-always-wanted-to-fly/2014/05/18/3cdc451a-ccc6-11e3-93eb-6c0037dde2ad_story.html