WOMAN IN AVIATION

In honour of August being Woman’s month in South Africa, we are profiling a number of women who have excelled in various aspects of aviation.

Wrenelle Stander

Wrenelle Stander is the incoming CEO of AASA.

Wrenelle Stander has had a stellar career in corporate and airline management. She has topped it off in June by being appointed as the incoming CEO of the Airline Association of Southern Africa.

The hottest seat Wrenelle has had to occupy is that of the CEO of Comair, shortly before the perennially profitable airline was struck down by the Covid-19 pandemic. Wrenelle had the unhappy task of steering the mortally wounded airline into its first loss and then Business Rescue and finally a takeover.

Wrenelle began her career in the Department of Transport where she rose to become Chief Director of aviation and maritime regulation and also served as Deputy CEO of the SA Civil Aviation Authority. She then became the Managing Director of South Africa’s Air Traffic Navigation Service (ATNS) and then the Sasol Gas business. She has held executive and nonexecutive directorships on various boards.

Wrenelle has a BA (Hons) from the University of Cape Town, followed by an MBA from Oxford Brookes University in the UK.

Wrenelle is a natural leader with a unique skills set. "Finding the sweet spot in the nexus between government and industry is the thread that has strung together my various roles in the energy and aviation industries and one that is crucial to the vital role that AASA fulfils in representing the air transport industry throughout the Southern African Development Community region," she says.

Lonell Coetzee

Lonell Coetzee is the ultimate ATC with mutiple skills.

Lonell Coetzee has a huge number of very impressive accomplishments to her name in aviation, academia and sport:

Academically she is highly qualified in a number of fields. Her first degree was a B. Com in IT at Pretoria University, followed by a Masters in Business Leadership from Unisa. She then topped that off with a Doctorate in Business Leadership, also from Unisa. She is a member of the Royal Aeronautical Society.

Lonell is also a superlative sportsperson. As the then Lonell de Beer she was a Protea (Springbok) cricket player at the 2005 Women’s Cricket World Cup and played county cricket in the UK. She also completed the 94.7 cycle challenge in 03:00:06.

Yet she is not just a superlative academic and sportswoman – she has a lifelong passion for aviation and had always wanted to be an air traffic controller, having applied to ATNS after completing her BCom. With her academic and team player credentials she was accepted by ATNS after several applications and, after graduating as an air traffic assistant, was stationed as a tower assistant at Wonderboom before becoming a tower controller at Rand Airport and moving to the tower at OR Tambo. In 2011 she was promoted to the position of Radar Controller at OR Tambo and became a Radar instructor in 2016.

As a woman she knows what it takes to be a single mother with a demanding career and a daughter to raise.

Lonell was introduced to helicopter flying at Henley Air, who makes a point of giving new air traffic controllers at Rand a helicopter flight to show them the airspace in real life – and how helicopters operate within it. The pilot bug bit and she started a PPL (H) in 2015, going on to obtain her CPL(H) in 2017. She now has more than 650 hours and a frozen ATPL(H) with IFR, sling, game, and multi-engine ratings. She is rated on more than twelve helicopter types.

With her helicopter and academic qualifications, Lonell ably fulfils a key role at ATNS as a senior air traffic controller and in her spare time at Rand, where she is now married to Henley’s Executive Chairman, Dr Andre Coetzee!

Refilwe Ledwaba

Refilwe Ledwaba was the first black woman ALTP helicopter pilot and had done much to promote avaiation.

Refilwe Ledwaba grew up in rural Limpopo as one of seven children. Her mother worked as a teacher while bringing up her children as a single parent. Refilwe wanted to become a doctor, so she earned a BSc (Biochemistry and Microbiology) at the University of Cape Town.

It was while studying in Cape Town that she took her first flight as a passenger. That flight ignited her interest in the aviation industry. After graduating she joined Comair as cabin crew, and it was during this time that she started taking flying lessons. With a cabin crew salary, while also paying for her student loans, she could only afford one hour of training a month. So she wrote 200 letters to aviation companies asking them for opportunities to train. The South African Police Service offered to pay for her training, and she became a commercial pilot and joined the police as a trainee pilot.

Refilwe became the first black woman from South Africa to fly a helicopter. She received her wings on 11 January 2006, aged 26. During her time at the SAPS, she flew over 2500 hours (both helicopters and fixed wings), flying many demanding missions and qualifying as the first black woman ATPL(H). She is also a qualified fixed-wing instructor and drone pilot.

To share the pleasures and rewards of flying, Refilwe founded the NGO Girls Fly programme which is an educational Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) programme. The foundation is currently operating in Botswana, Cameroon, and Kenya. As of 2020 over 100,000 young women had participated in GFPA foundation programmes.

In 2009 she went on to set up the Southern African Women in Aviation and Aerospace Industry (SAWIA) group, to support women working in the broader aviation industry. In 2019 she joined the U.S. TechWomen programme as a mentee. She also became an Obama Foundation Fellow in 2019 and is a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Goalkeeper, a role she uses to advocate for women's rights in Africa. She has won numerous additional awards and in 2019 was nominated to the South African air services licencing council (ASLC). Her tenure ended in March 2021.

Refilwe is passionate about academia and in addition to her science degree, she also holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration from UCT and an MBA from the Gordon Institute.

SA Flyer / Flightcom Magazine August 2021