NAF’s first female combat helicopter pilot dies

Nigerian Air Force’s first female combat helicopter pilot, Tolulope Arotile, has died in a road accident on Tuesday.

Arotile was reported to have sustained head injuries from the road accident which occurred at the NAF Base in Kaduna.

In a press statement released by NAF, the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, was quoted, as describing her death as an “irreparable loss”.

Arotile, who hailed from Iffe in Ijumu Local Government Area of Kogi State, lost her life barely a year after she was decorated as the first female combatant helicopter pilot.

The statement read, “It is with great sorrow that the Nigerian Air Force regretfully announces the unfortunate demise of Flying Officer Tolulope Arotile, who died today (Tuesday), 14 July 2020, as a result of head injuries sustained from a road traffic accident at NAF Base Kaduna.

“Until her death, ‪Flying Officer Arotile, who was commissioned into the NAF in September 2017 as a member of Nigerian Defence Academy Regular Course 64, was the first-ever female combat helicopter pilot in the Service