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A 21-YEAR-OLD woman from Glencairn Heights will soon hold the honour of being only the second woman fighter pilot in the South African Air Force.

Tamara Thomas, who matriculated at Fish Hoek Senior High School in 2001, "graduated" as a pilot in March this year after three years of arduous training with the Air Force. She has now been selected for training as a fighter pilot - the most prestigious and honourable class of pilots in the Air Force.

For Tamara, it's a long-held dream come true. If there's one thing her school friends remember about her, it was her dogged determination to be a fighter pilot one day. They recently shared in the realisation of this dream when Tamara was interviewed by Top Billing after receiving her wings from the Chief of the South African National Air Force.

In 2007, Tamara will get to sit in some of the world's most advanced planes when she is trained to fly South Africa?s new Hawks and Grippens, acquired from British Aerospace/SAAB as part of the government's arms deal to replace South Africa's Cheetah and Impala aircraft.

Born in Grassy Park, Tamara recalls how her dream of flying was ignited one day when, as a girl of eight, her parents took her to an air show at Ysterplaat. "From a very young age, I was always interested in flying. Any opportunity I got, I went to an air show and my parents took me to visit air traffic control towers. The first air show I went to at Ysterplaat, I thought, 'Wow, this is amazing!'."

Tamara joined the Air Force in 2002 and faced three years of intensive training to get her wings. During her first year, she did basic military training and officers' formative training to obtain her rank. During her second year, she hit the books at the military academy in Saldanha Bay, doing subjects such as aerodynamics under a University of Stellenbosch programme. Her third year was spent flying aircraft at the Langebaan flight school. She graduated with a wings parade at the Langebaan flight school on 10 March this year.

She is currently in Pretoria doing transport flight, but is "streamed" into the fighter line. "In the beginning, everyone is trained on the same aircraft," Tamara says. "Then headquarters decides who goes where - to transport, helicopters or fighter planes. There is one woman who is already flying fighter aircraft. I will be the second.

"We're waiting for the Hawks and Grippens. Some have already arrived in SA and are being specified for the Air Force's needs. We should start training in 2007.

"It's very exciting, being part of the first few people who will be privileged enough to fly the new planes." But what gets you behind the controls of a fighter plane? "You have to handle pressure well and be able to work with other people. The most basic is handling pressure as things happen so fast - you have to have confidence in yourself and your ability to make split-second decisions."

The realisation of her dream still feels unreal sometimes. "Very often when I walk out to the flight line or fly above a city and look out at the lights below, I think how amazing it is that I am now flying. It's still awesome. It's amazing, you know, an amazing feeling." Tamara is the daughter of Edmund and Serena Thomas, who settled in Glencairn Heights nine years ago.

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