Nigeria’s First-Ever Female Combatant Helicopter Pilot Dies By Car Accident

Late Tolulope


Nigeria has its first female combatant helicopter pilot, Tolulope Arotile in a car accident. The Nigeria Air Force said she died in a car accident in Kaduna on Tuesday after suffering multiple head injuries. She died barely eight months after she was winged and conferred with a special recognition.

The flying officer was winged as NAF first female combatant helicopter on Tuesday, October 15, 2019. Arotile’s death, which was described as “unfortunate” was announced on Tuesday, July 14, by NAF in a statement. The late officer was said to have died in Kaduna.

The statement stated, “It is with great sorrow that the Nigeria Air Force regretfully announces the unfortunate demise of Flying Officer Tolulope Arotile, who died on 14 July 2020 as a result of head injuries sustained from a road traffic accident at NAF Base Kaduna. Until her death, Fg Offr Arotile, who was commissioned into the NAF in Sept 2017 as a member of Nigeria Defence Academy RC 64, was the first ever female combat helicopter pilot in the Service.”

Describing the late pilot’s death as an irreplaceable loss, NAF said it commiserated with the family of the deceased and prayed that the Almighty God grants her soul eternal rest.

The late officer was on Tuesday, October 15, 2019, winged by NAF as the first-ever female combat helicopter pilot in Nigeria. Arotile was honoured alongside Flying Officer Kafayat Sanni. The duo were part of 13 NAF pilots who recently completed their flying training abroad and qualified for the award of the NAF prestigious wing.

In a related report, NAF has unveiled two emergency ventilators produced by a team of researchers from the Air Force Research and Development Centre and Air Force Institute of Technology, Kaduna. The ventilators were produced in partnership with the faculty of veterinary medicine, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

The emergency ventilators, tagged ‘NAF E-Vents’, were unveiled on Wednesday, May 27 by the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, in Kaduna state. A statement from NAF spokesman, Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola, revealed that before the unveiling, the prototype E-Vents had been subjected to successful animal testing using both canine and porcine test subjects.

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