Fearless and vigilant pilot, Feriel Ally, is a ‘Special Person’

Apr 21, 2013 News

---

 

 

“I always wanted to be a “bush” pilot. I am a patriotic Guyanese. I never thought of leaving this beautiful country. Our hinterland is so beautiful…It is so breathtaking…especially the Savannahs. I remember my days of making two trips per day to Lethem.”

By Keeran Danny

In Guyana’s hinterland, where navigational equipment is not always readily available and the weather is quite unpredictable, our skillful pilots often depend on keen eyesight and judgement in a scenario where fog-covered mountain peaks and hills, or even dark clouds, loom larger than life as challenges.
Given the rough, unforgiving terrain, with long days required to move cargo and people via road and river, air transport is the best solution, and the demand for flights in the hinterland has increased with expanding gold and diamond mining, and a tourism industry with unlimited potential.

In 2010, Air Services Limited invested in a $75 million hangar at Mahdia, where over 300,000 lbs of cargo per month is shuttled to airstrips in Region Eight, providing an invaluable lifeline to those remote communities not accessible by road.
Actively engaged in this work, stationed in Mahdia at Air Services Limited’s hangar facility is this week’s ‘special person’, Captain Feriel Ally, a fearless and vigilant female pilot who simply loves those flying machines, particularly the Cessna Grand Caravan.
Feriel is the one of selected pilots responsible for contributing an essential service to the many
porkknockers, shopkeepers, cooks, students and residents in the region, who depend almost exclusively on the friendly skies.
Her modesty, simplicity and upbringing made the transition from urban living to the hinterland easy.
“I look forward to getting away from Ogle to the peace and solitude in Mahdia. Oh what a beautiful place it is.”
While she enjoys waking to the scenery of tall trees, fog-covered mountains, and an abundance of fresh air, Feriel’s greatest satisfaction comes from piloting her aircraft to facilitate the rapid movement of people and goods.
Everyday she’s in the cockpit, and her over two decades of experience is wholly reassuring to those who require her services. Her instincts, combined with her obsession for safe flying, have served her well. Her impeccable record supports this.
Feriel was born on July 4, 1967 to Yacoob and Zinelle Ally. She is twice divorced and now has a loving boyfriend. She affectionately jokes that her father is a true Caribbean man – his children are mothered by three different women. Even with this, she has maintained a close relationship with her six siblings while growing up. They are now her biggest supporters.
Her early childhood was spent in Supenaam where fond memories of outdoor adventures in the countryside remain. Despite moving to Georgetown and subsequently studying in Barbados, Feriel and her siblings returned to Supenaam from time to time, where one of her father’s three sawmills is located. There she learned to drive a speedboat and operate heavy-duty machinery, skills deemed unconventional for girls during that era.

At a tender age, she was transferred from Good Hope Primary School in Aurora, Region Two, to Stella Maris Primary in Georgetown. Admission to a Catholic School in those days was not easy, so to secure Feriel and her brother Irfaan’s admissions to the school, her father thoughtfully committed to building an extension to the building.
But, her schooling in Guyana was short lived. When she was eight years old, Feriel and her older sister, Annette, were admitted to The Codrington School, which was at the time an all-girl boarding institution, located in Barbados.
Feriel reflected on those days being away from home as very sad. Tears had become her companion. However days turned into years and in 1984 she graduated from the secondary level of The Codrington School. She returned home with the intention of eventually studying Business Management abroad, but those plans were soon shattered.
“My father said he didn’t have any money for me to study and so the plan was for me to stay home and gain work experience. Also, he didn’t see the sense in me studying business in a developed country while I would be operating in a third-world country”.
“My father believes in starting from the bottom and knowing every aspect of the business. I started from cleaning the planes, loading cargo, weighing cargo, working in the radio room, being a receptionist, and booking flights. I was given a little pocket money for my services,” a smiling Feriel recounted.
Skills developed while working part-time during school holidays at Air Services Limited, helped her to fit neatly into the family business. Obviously sensing his daughter’s capabilities, Mr. Ally enrolled Feriel in the Clavair Flight School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
“My dad bought two second-hand aircraft from a flight school in Trinidad. When I went to flight school, one was sent for me in Miami and the other he used for the timber business.”
The Miami move paid off when, at only 19 years old, Feriel got her Private Pilot Licence. She built up her hours landing on small airstrips built by her father in his remote timber concessions.

Her flying career began in earnest when she was designated the official pilot of A. Mazaharally and Sons. Being on call 24 hours daily was not a problem since she was happy to add to her flight hours. Navigating the company’s aircraft into Guyana’s remote areas on small airstrips required concentration, determination and skills – attributes embedded in Feriel.
“Dad built those airstrips to accommodate our aircraft. They were marginal and short airstrips. What I did in those days I won’t do now. I flew in unpredictable weather…no navigational aid in the interior. But I knew our workers were depending on the food items and tools, which if not delivered in time, would shut the timber operations”.
“I could remember taking off at Skull Point where there were tall mango trees on the approach when landing and there was no control tower either…those were fearless days, but I never compromised safety… I have never been in an accident or incident,” she reflected, while observing a customary dispelling against such a fate, by knocking on the wooden handle of the patio chair at her sister’s East Coast Demerara residence.
She stressed that safety has always been a major priority of hers, since she is not a risk taker. She routinely ensures that all pre-flight and post-flight checks are made to the aircraft, and will return her aircraft to Ogle, if landing conditions in the interior are hazardous.
Flying for A. Mazaharally and Sons, she built up the hundreds of hours of flying time and enough money to pursue her Commercial Pilot Licence without anyone’s help. And so she continued her endeavours independently. In 1996, Ally graduated from the ADF Airways in Florida.
In need of a change, and wanting to venture into other areas of Guyana serving the needs of people, particularly those in the hinterland, Feriel started working with Air Services Limited in 2000. That was another stepping stone for her career which has become the pride and joy of her life.
“I always wanted to be a “bush” pilot. I am a patriotic Guyanese. I never thought of leaving this beautiful country. Our hinterland is so beautiful…It is so breathtaking…especially the Savannahs. I remember my days of making two trips per day to Lethem,” she said.
“When you are a pilot you encounter so many people and different experiences. Every day presents its own thrills. I remember one day I made a trip to Kaieteur Falls and it was getting dark, and I had about a few minutes to navigate out of the area and the fog was thick but I made it out.”

Unsurprisingly ambitious, Feriel set herself lofty personal goals which she strived relentlessly to achieve. One of those was to climb the ladder in the aviation industry. And to do that she pursued Aviation Management studies. Successful in that pursuit, she left her family’s business and gained employment at the country’s main port of entry, the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, as Deputy Manager of Airport Operations, in 2004. However her experience there proved difficult, and she decided to resign in 2005.
“It was first time away from my family’s business, and I felt discriminated against as a woman and because of background. I had to leave there”, she reflected.
She then joined the team of hard working personnel at Civil Aviation Authority as an Aviation Inspector. She enjoyed her stay there, but met with what she described as the biggest disappointment in her career, which was essentially the reason for her returning to Air Services Limited. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise, since she is doing what she enjoys.
Feriel says her years with the regulatory body gave her strength and the ability to deal with adversity. She pointed out that she came back to Air Services in 2011 with a wider understanding of our aviation industry.
Last year, after 26 years in the industry, she received an award from Transport Minister, Robeson Benn for being the first female pilot to fly a Cessna Grand Caravan in Guyana. This recognition is one of the highlights of her career, but Feriel does not intend to stop aspiring to greater heights. For now, and not a limitation by any means, she is enjoying flying Air Services Limited’s Twin-Engine Islander almost daily around Region Eight. Piloting areas such as the South Pakaraimas, Kato and Kaieteur has become an integral part of her life.
Speaking about her daily routine at Mahdia, Feriel said, “I wake at 06:00hrs every day, pull my curtains, look at the mountains…If the mountains are visible, I fly. You need good weather to fly in Region Eight. The weather changes frequently, but you need to make a judgement because your passengers depend on you to transport them safely”.
Independence, strength, fearlessness and the required caution keep this deserving ‘special person’ focused on contributing to the local domestic aviation industry which is celebrating its 100th Anniversary this year.

---

---