Boitumelo Katisi

Boitumelo Katisi’s love and passion for being a pilot and flying aeroplanes shaped her to become one of the most influential pilots in the South African aviation industry. Growing up in the township of Pimville in Soweto as a young african female raised by a single parent, Tumi’s journey to becoming a pilot was never an easy one. She had to convince her mother who at the time was taking care of her and two other siblings that her love for aviation and her dream to become an Airline Pilot was not just a phase but a career she truly wanted to pursue. Upon enrolling at the Loutzavia flight school in 2013, perhaps one of the hardest things Tumi had to do in her journey to become a pilot was to negotiate with her mother to fund her pilot licence.

Expensive as it is, her mother understood the love and passion she had for flying and this had her saving up some money by joining a stokvel to help her daughter pursue her dream. At times along the journey, Tumi’s training had to be held back due to financial constraints and difficulties, but this did not stop her from keeping her head up high and soldiering forward. Tumi wrote motivational letters to every brand and company she could think of and at some point, had to even sell raffle tickets to win a watch from one of her sponsors Breitling ,which almost got her into trouble with the National Lottery board, all as an attempt to raise funds and follow her dreams. These hardships ultimately paid off as she managed to complete her private pilot licence by mid-2014. Not only that but Tumi’s dedication and passion for flying was also noticed and appreciated by many other people, one of them who was a fellow pilot by the name of Beejal Govan. Beejal wrote to 94.7 Highveld Stereo which is a popular South African radio station and asked them to help a young passionate female pilot by the name of Boitumelo Katisi to fund her Commercial Pilot License which is generally a licence required to get a job as a pilot in the commercial aviation world.

From this Tumi was awarded R290 000 for her studies by Anglo American and E Oppenheimer & Sons.  The struggles and setbacks she faced in her journey to become a pilot did not discourage her or have her give up on her dreams but moulded her to be patient, work hard and ultimately persevere. Tumi was not only passionate about flying, she saw an opportunity to make a difference in the Aviation Industry by exposing young people to a variety of opportunities in this industry and motivating them to pursue their goals. She is one of the founders and chairperson of the renowned Non Profit Organisation named Aviation Development in Africa (ADA) which is aimed to help spread aviation awareness to the youth in underdeveloped and rural areas within South Africa.  ADA was founded in February 2015; the organisation consists of young aviators that came together and saw the need to help aspiring aviators who were struggling financially to complete their courses in the Aviation sector. ADA has successfully visited different schools and environments across all provinces around South Africa inspiring and motivating the youth to endless possibilities of the aviation sector, achieving their biggest milestones being a part of the National Aviation Gender Summit for 2019 and was awarded the Aeroclub of South Africa 2019 Youth Development Award.

She shadowed a German airline, Lufthansa Airline in 2015 as part of her airline exposure, which made her the first in the world to do so. Tumi was also awarded a Student of the Year award in 2015 with Loutzavia flight school. Tumi is the face of an organisation named Outlook Foundation ZA which helps push the idea of how essential pure maths and science is career wise towards high school learners. She also worked with a UK company called MMBF alongside Kenny Foya Foundation ,where she handed out a sponsorship towards an ambitious aspiring flight attendant which paid fully for her studies at a college in Kempton Park. Tumi was also featured in an ad with Universal Channel and a docu-series with CNN Africa on a program called African Voices which both premiered worldwide on DSTV.  

Tumi graduated as a Commercial Pilot in September 2018 and was awarded the Commercial Pilot Licence Multi-Engine Student Of The Year Award and she was one of three recipients for the Civil Aviation Industry Award for outstanding contribution to aviation in South Africa for 2019. Tumi graduated with the Commercial Aviation Association of Southern Africa as a protégé which trains future aviation leaders on how to become a director in the industry, she was also recognised in the Mail & Guardian Top 200 Young South Africans under the education category.

Currently, Tumi is flying as a cadet pilot on a PC 12 for the SA Red Cross Air Mercy Service (AMS) which is a non-profit aero-medical rescue organisation with more than 55 years of expertise in the aero-medical sector, working in partnership with government to facilitate access to healthcare to the impoverished communities of South Africa. The AMS is the only aero-medical operator in Southern Africa which offers a complete package of air- ambulance, health outreach and rescue services, using a mix of fixed-wing, rotor-wing aircraft and ground vehicles.

She is also living one of her dreams by also flying for Execujet , one of the best charter companies in the world as a co-pilot on their PC 12 fleet.  

She is definitely one of the most inspiring pilots in South Africa.