PHOTOS: Meet Nigeria’s Youngest Female To Pilot Plane Cross Country

Kimberly preparing for take off Photo credit: PM News

Fifteen year old Kimberly Anyadike flew from one end of America to the other, which is known as cross country flight in aviation parlance, thus becoming the youngest African American female pilot to complete the journey.

Kimberly, whose parents are Nigerians broke the U.S. record when she flew a single-engine Cessna cross-country from her hometown in California to Newport Virginia, which took 13 days.
She learned to fly at age of 12 through the Compton-based Tomorrow’s Aeronautical Museum, which offers aviation lessons in an after-school program for disadvantaged youths, P.M News reports.

The brave teenager came up with the idea on her own using the museum’s plane for her cross-country trip
Robert Petgrave, the museum’s founder said: “I told her it was going to be a daunting task, but she just said, ‘Put it on. I got big shoulders.’”

Kimberly stands in front of her single-engine Cessna plane

Levi Thornhill, 87, one of the Tuskeegee Airmen during World War II was the adult safety pilot in her company for the historic ride.

Kimberly said: “They left such a great legacy, I had big shoes to fill. All they wanted to do was to be patriots for this country. They were told no, that they were silly, that they didn’t have cognitive development to fly planes. They didn’t listen. They just did what they wanted to do.”

The fifteen year old futher said she just wanted to inspire other children to believe in themselves.
At least 50 Tuskeegee Airmen autographed her plane during the journey.