GUYANA has come a long way in the aviation industry, particularly when it comes to producing female pilots. Since the days of Lucille Golas, the first female private pilot to fly in Guyana’s airspace, other women have joined this male-dominated industry and have made invaluable contributions.

In celebration of International Civil Aviation Day on December 7, 2022, founder and chief director of “Purple Arts Productions,” Simone Dowding, acknowledged the powerful Guyanese women who play an integral role in the industry.

Speaking with this publication, Dowding said that they should be honoured for the phenomenal job that they have done and continue to do in the aviation field.

She noted that she has always had a love for flying, but in 2013, she was invited to celebrate the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority’s 100th anniversary. That event motivated her to give recognition to the Guyanese women in aviation.

According to her, 2021 was the first time that she had put a spotlight on, and honoured, the Guyanese women in this field. It is her hope that it becomes an annual event on a bigger platform.

This year, she honoured several women pilots and air traffic controllers and thanked them for their service and dedication.

Captain Debbie Gouveia was one of those honoured. She is more than just a pioneering pilot; she’s a wife, a mother, and a businesswoman – she and her husband, Captain Gerry Gouveia own the prestigious Roraima Airways.

Debbie, as she is fondly known, was one of those who happily picked up the baton and continued the race. She continues to look forward to seeing other women take up the mantle.

She is Guyana’s first female aircraft pilot to fly above Guyana’s jungle as a commercial airline captain.

Chaitrani Heeralall, the current Director Quality and Compliance Monitoring Officer at the GCAA, was also honoured. She has served Guyana beyond the call of duty for many years.

Born and raised on the West Coast of Demerara, she attended Zeeburg Secondary School where she completed her secondary education before joining the then Civil Aviation Department.

Last September marked 38 years of dedicated and unbroken service to the country’s aviation sector.

Heeralall’s journey to date has not been without challenges, especially in a male-dominated aviation environment. These challenges persist to this day.

Amidst all of this, she managed to create a balance between family, work and academic pursuits.

She is the first Guyanese to complete the ICAO Air Navigation Services Universal Safety Oversight Auditor’s Course while completing her MBA with distinction at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus.

Born on September 5, 1982, into a low-income, single-parent household, Yolanda Hunte was the younger of two children. She attended St. Joseph’s High School and at the age of 18, had her first child.

With nothing but a high school certificate, she sent in an application to the GCAA and was selected for training. This led to an 18-year career.

Today, Hunte is the holder of numerous certificates and licences, both locally and internationally, in aeronautical information services, air traffic control services (aerodrome, approach, and area procedural control services, and area surveillance control services), safety management systems, fatigue risk management systems, and supervisory management.

She currently holds the position of an area control centre supervisor, which she proudly shares with three other females and one male.

Hunte is also the third highest ranked female in the air navigation services directorate.
Additionally, former student of the Abram Zuil Secondary School on the Essequibo Coast and licensed Air Traffic Controller, Lolita Fernandes, was also honoured.

She started her aviation career almost immediately after graduating high school.

According to her, “the air traffic services is such a unique profession [as] all training is received after you are hired. I am a licensed air traffic controller, holding ratings for aerodromes, approaches, and area control services, and received my aerodromes rating in 2005.”

She explained that some of her initial challenges were the rigorous training, making the adjustment to work the night shifts and working twice as hard to prove herself. Some of the other women who were recognised for their phenomenal work are Air Traffic Controller, Symerta Bridgewater-Moore, and Captain Debbie Okalossa Green.