A haredi woman has for the first time been accepted into El Al’s elite pilot training course, which will begin in three months, Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Wednesday.
Nehama (full name withheld), in her 30s, lives in a haredi community in Jerusalem and is married with three children. She is a graduate of a Beit Yaakov school and at age 20, she began learning to fly in the United States.
With her American pilot license, Nehama tried, unsuccessfully, for several years to be accepted into El Al’s program.
She had accomplished all the minimum requirements of the course, except for the required number of flying hours, which is very difficult for a civilian pilot – who has not served in the Israeli Air Force – to accumulate.
Nehama did not give up and continued to travel every year to the United States to meet the required number of flying hours.
She recently met her goal, and after passing El Al’s rigorous testing, was finally accepted into its pilot course starting in November.
“My dream has always been to be an active pilot,” Nehama told her friends, “and my husband is very supportive and has helped me fulfill this dream.”
