Demetria Elosiebo becomes the first Black female aviator in the D.C. National Guard.
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 Guard’s 5,763 pilots are women.
“It’s 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 doesn’t matter when it comes to flying a plane.
