The Gentle Gender Conquers the Sky

Sheikha Mozah Al Maktoum is the founder of the Shehana Women’s Aviation Association and has published a book about pioneering female pilots.

Meanwhile, in Bulgaria, the creation of a rescue squad that includes female police officers and paramedics is being considered.

“Ten years ago, when I was an official partner of Dubai Helishow 2014 and saw the cars driven by the female police officers of Dubai, the idea immediately came to me to create the World’s First Female Rescue Team — the first in the world to carry out ground, underground, high-rise, water, and aerial operations,” says Ivan Kristoff, who has been involved in high-altitude rescue work on tall buildings and in aerial rescue for many years. “The squad will undergo multidisciplinary training, as in international rescue operations, especially in some Middle Eastern countries where there is a special attitude towards women. This team will be able to cooperate in a more appropriate form. That’s why I started training a female team aboard the MI-8 helicopter with Julia Cuthbert, the communications director of ‘Dubai Helishow,’ the largest helicopter and aeromedical exhibition in the Middle East.”

A Female Motorized Police Officer at the Dubai Helishow in 2014

But why in Dubai? Because it has the most high-rise buildings “per capita.” Knowing that the number of women in Bulgarian aviation is growing, including in leadership positions and as pilots of various aircraft, as well as in parachuting and paragliding, Ivan got the idea to initiate the creation of the World’s First Female Rescue Forum. This forum would unite our female aviators in developing and introducing innovations and new effective methods in aviation, which could write its contemporary history and open a new chapter in its more than 110-year existence.

Pushing Human Limits

Ivan Kristoff is not afraid of heights.

“I am already working on the issue and have created a platform, developed new rescue methodologies, and conducted extensive research into using deep technologies that push the boundaries of human capabilities. But once we implement them in the real world, we will create a future unlike anything anyone has done before,” Kristoff says confidently. “Here in Bulgaria, women could launch this initiative on International Aviation and Cosmonautics Day – April 12. I plan to hold air and ground demonstrations, either in Burgas or Sofia, at the Future Rescuer’s Home in the Buxton district. For years, I’ve partnered with the Inter Expo Center and have been convinced that the female management team there could support the creation of the First Women’s Rescue Squad and Forum, which could successfully develop both in Bulgaria and globally. These women not only created the platform for Inter Drone Expo but also gave other women the chance to ‘fly’ on ropes and at high altitudes.”

The Falconess

Ivan’s dream is to invite the first princess-pilot from the Arab Emirates – Sheikha Mozah Al Maktoum, of the Royal Family of Dubai, to a similar forum in Bulgaria. This brave woman is a helicopter and tilt-rotor pilot (a hybrid between a helicopter and an airplane by the company LEONARDO, which manufactured the HEMS helicopters in Bulgaria). She does everything possible to accelerate the development of women in the aviation industry. In October 2019, she founded Shehana, the Women’s Aviation Association, to provide support and raise awareness about the many opportunities for women in this exciting field — not only as pilots or crew members but also as lawyers, engineers, doctors, or in other interesting careers. The association is named “Shehana” after the female falcon, the fastest and most beautiful among the falcons — the national bird of the UAE, symbolizing great pride, unity, and overcoming challenges to achieve success.

At the end of February, the princess-pilot published the book When She Took the Sky, which recounts the stories of 30 female aviators — from pioneers like Amelia Earhart, Lotfia El Nadi, Raymonde de Laroche, and others, to astronauts like Valentina Tereshkova, Svetlana Savitskaya, and Sally Ride. A special chapter is dedicated to Arab women pilots. Unfortunately, the book does not include any Bulgarian women, but this could be amended, as we have women to be proud of as well.

Bulgarian Trail

Raina Kasabova was a nurse and the first woman in the world to take part in a combat flight. On October 30, 1912, during the Balkan War, she flew as an observer on a “Voisin” airplane over Edirne with Commander Second Lieutenant Stefan Kalinov and mechanic Ilia Mladenov. They took off from Mustafa Pasha, and their flight lasted 43 minutes. From the airplane, she dropped not bombs but leaflets calling for an end to the bloodshed over enemy positions in Edirne. Raina Kasabova was not only brave but also beautiful. A few years after her heroic flight, she won a beauty contest in Varna. She never married, as the love of her life died in the wars. She passed away at the age of 71 in 1969. In 2009, a glacier in Antarctica was named after her.

Maria Atanasova is another remarkable woman in Bulgarian aviation. She was the first Bulgarian civil aviation pilot and the first woman to captain a heavy aircraft in the world. In 1950, she graduated in the first group of female pilots from the Higher People’s Air Force School in Dolna Mitropoliya, and later from the fighter pilot school. Between 1953 and 1974, she flew as a pilot and captain of planes for BGA “Balkan” on various routes. In 1965, she became the first woman to land a passenger plane at London Heathrow Airport under extreme conditions. She passed away on April 11, 2000.

Emilia Gyrbova dreamed of flying from a young age, despite her grandmother’s warnings to “never climb a tree without roots.” She graduated from the Air Force School in Dolna Mitropoliya in 1951 and became an instructor. After 1968, she flew nine different types of military aircraft. Lieutenant Colonel Emilia Gyrbova was the first female fighter pilot in Bulgaria to fly a jet fighter. She passed away in early 2023 at the age of 90.