Tolulope Arotile, Nigeria’s first female combat helicopter pilot, died after being involved in an accident on July 14, 2020.
According to sources, she was knocked down by a former Air Force Secondary School classmate friend who was trying to greet her while reversing the vehicle inside the Kaduna Air Force Base. Arotile suffered a severe head injury with massive hemorrhage and didn’t survive.
Tributes have continued to pour in over her shocking and sudden death.
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Here are some facts about her.
1. Tolulope Arotile was born on December 13, 1995, and grew up in Kaduna.
2. She was a native of the Iffe area in the Ijumu Local Government Area of Kogi State.
3. Arotile attended the Air Force Schools in Kaduna for her primary and secondary education.
4. She joined the Nigerian Air Force 401 Flying Training School, Kaduna, on the 22nd of December 2012.
5. She graduated and became an officer in the force on the 16th of September 2017.
6. She was selected to train in South Africa following her performance during her initial flying training course at 401 Flying Training School, Kaduna.
7. She acquired 460 hours of flight within 14 months in a helicopter as of October 2019.
8. Arotile was decorated as the first female fighter helicopter pilot the Nigerian Air Force has had in 55 years on October 15, 2019, by the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs (Dame) Pauline Tallen, and the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar
9. She contributed significantly to the efforts to rid the North Central States of armed bandits and other criminal elements by flying several combat missions under Operation GAMA AIKI in Minna, Niger State.