Kimberly Anyadike: At 15, she became the youngest African-American female pilot to fly across the U.S

Kimberly Anyadike

Meet Kimberly Anyadike, a young pilot who learned how to fly from an after school program focused on helping at-risk youth realize dreams – the Tomorrow’s Aeronautical Museum in Compton, California.

Anyadike washed airplanes and did other odd jobs and tasks to earn “museum dollars” that she traded in for flight lessons.

Anyadike, at the age of 15 in 2009, became the youngest African-American female pilot to ever fly across the United States.

When she set the record in 2009, at her side was Maj. Levi Thornhill, one of the original Tuskegee Airmen of World War II.

They left such a great legacy,” Anyadike said of the U.S. Army Air Corps’ all-black combat unit. “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 stupid, that they didn’t have cognitive development to fly planes. They didn’t listen. They just did what they wanted to do.”

Anyadike hopes to fly around the world some day – but as a doctor, treating patients reating patients in disaster and war zones while working with Doctors Without Borders.

Source: Daily News