ROLA HOTEIT - BOC CHRONICLES
Pilot Rola Hoteit broke all the rules and the boundaries when it came to women in male-dominated fields. Read on to find out how she spread her own wings and took flight to the future she envisioned for herself.
Captain Rola Hoteit, how did you become a pilot?
I believe many people know this story, but I’m going to say it one more time. Nshallah my kids don’t hear it because they would kill me at this point! So it all started as a challenge. I used to live in South of Lebanon under the Israeli occupation. It was very difficult for us even to come to Beirut, so imagine for me to dream of becoming a pilot! It wasn’t a childhood dream because it was way beyond my reach. So when I was 17 I joined AUB as a math student. During the very first year, on the second semester, a friend of mine comes to AUB holding a newspaper that had an ad which said, “MEA is recruiting pilots both female and male” and he was like, “Look everyone, look at this ad! Really?” And I was like, “What’s wrong with that? I can’t see anything wrong, what do you mean ‘really’?” And he said, “Women? They don’t even know how to drive cars! If there’s traffic, there’s always a woman behind the traffic. If you give a washing machine to a woman, she won’t even know how to read the manual or how to operate it. You want them to fly a plane?” I was like, “What?! Seriously you’re talking that way?” So the argument started to escalate and then eventually I told him, “You know what? I challenge you. Let’s both sit for this entrance exam for pilots and we see who will pass.” We both applied; there were 2,000 applicants in total when he and I applied, and we did the exam. It was math, which was my major. It was also physics. It was IQ questions, like comprehension, how to handle a machine, and English. Then, after like a month, my dad was coming to pick me up from AUB to go back home to my village. During the car ride, he tells me, “Guess what? One guy came to me and said, ‘Congratulations, your daughter passed the exam for pilots!’” My dad answers, “No, my daughter studies mathematics in AUB, she did not apply for aviation. That girl is not my daughter for sure.” And I was like “What?!? I passed?. So actually, 25 years down the line, after that challenge, I am flying planes, and that guy is not. So that’s how it started and that’s how it ended.
You became the first female pilot for MEA; what was your first impression on a personal and professional level? How did it change with time?
Actually when I passed the exams, there were 9 that succeeded and I was the first one. The first reason I wanted to get in after passing the test is because they say, “If you’re lucky enough, you’ll get to see the world.” So even at the age of 17-18, the travels, the urge to explore, the adventures, the challenges, it’s nice; it fills up a person. So for me I was like, “Wow, I’m going to travel, why should I study mathematics and end up being, I don’t know, maybe a professor, in order to travel like 1 month in the whole year? Is there anything nicer than a pilot’s career to travel? Every day he travels.” A little glimpse on my personal perspective: I was the first female pilot. Maybe at that point I believed that wow; I’m going to be famous. I didn’t know I was going to be that famous (laughing), but honestly I told myself that I’m going to be the first.
On a professional level it was to travel, and on the personal level, wow I am going to be famous.
After flying, now I believe that of course traveling is something amazing and it’s the nicest thing in the world. But flying a plane in itself is the beauty. Because it includes everything; it has art, it has talent, it has joy, it has everything. It’s a combination of all to fly that complicated machine. The whole flight is an adventure. I can do the same destination and there is nothing like the previous flight: new passengers, new plane, new co-pilot, new weather conditions, new everything. In these adventures, you have to react; you have to always be a fast thinker. It is nice to travel, but now I like flying the plane more in itself, that complicated machine.
And on a personal level, after flying I stayed for about 20 years not tackling that part; I didn’t stress on that part because for 20 years I didn’t accept to do any interviews. Eventually I decided to start going on social media, media on TV, talks at universities. That’s how the second personal part of “I’m going to be famous” worked as well.
What were the most challenging adventures you had to face both in order to become a pilot and during your time as a pilot?
Before becoming a pilot, I had many challenges, honestly. The very first challenge was to convince my father. After all, I come from a very conservative family from a very traditional village in South of Lebanon. And we’re talking about 27 years back. Not 2021, but 1990s. The mentality towards a woman being a pilot, a woman being in a different country every day. For my family and the extended family, a woman of course she studies, but IF she works, her work is not supposed to interfere with her role of a spouse. So first of all, she has to find a man that will accept to marry her.
And for my father, I was breaking ALL the things that he had put as presets in his life, which was that I would study, maybe work in something, and get married. My number one profession was being the “wife of” or the “daughter of” before any other profession. So for him it was very difficult. “How will you find a husband to marry you? How? Every day in a hotel, every day in a different country. Where? How will I live with this lifestyle for my daughter?”
Convincing my father was very difficult, he wouldn’t accept. I tried and I tried and I tried, he wouldn’t accept. Then, eventually, I dropped all my courses in AUB, I took my things in a taxi, I went home and told my dad, “I am not going back to AUB. I’m either going to be a pilot, or you have to find a husband for me TODAY. Other than this, no, without a husband.” So that’s how in the end he accepted.
Now the second challenge was to convince the community of pilots that I can make it, even as a woman. Because for them it was like I was a guinea pig. Especially when I started being a captain, the co-pilot position was a bit easier. But when I had to move from the co-pilot to the captain seat, from right to left, it was very difficult. Because for them, you know, we have this misconception that the woman cries, and the woman breaks down, and the woman is emotional, and a woman has a limit where she can’t take it anymore. When she gets to this limit, she collapses, as if a man handles more.
This is how we are brought up: if a girl falls it’s okay for her to cry, but your brother? Shame. You are a boy, you cannot cry. So I was brought up in a way that it’s okay to be emotional. So for them, flying is very stressful, and you are living in an environment, which we’re not supposed to be in. No one was born to fly. We were born to walk, to run, to swim, whatever you want, but not to fly. Already there is stress, and the weather is an obstacle. The human factor being one of the passengers got sick or someone died. Technical problems, there’s a lot of stress involved. So for them, when I was doing my training, I can’t describe to you how much they pushed me to my limits to see when I would collapse, when I would break down and cry. It was one of the hardest trainings. My husband and I were doing a training session together and we used to go on the simulator, him in one and me in the other. When we came back, I was so sweaty you could drip the water from my clothes and I was super tired. And he would come out normal. I asked myself, “Is he that much better than me? Why?” And then I asked him, “What did they give you?” He said they gave him engine failure, meaning they shut down the plane. “I did what I had to do. That’s it.” I looked at him and realized that from my side, they gave me engine failure. Okay, there is a procedure. I had to do the procedure. When they saw that I am almost done with this procedure, they added, “Captain, someone is hijacking the plane.” We’re still not on ground; we’re still flying here. I had to handle that issue. Then, for example, I am getting the wheels down; they do not go down. You know, emergency after emergency, as if they wanted to see, “When is she going to break down? She’s supposed to, she’s a woman.” So that was my second challenge: the community of pilots, to accept me in their cockpit. After all, it’s a masculine room and to trust me and to give me the seat of captain, it wasn’t easy.
Despite these challenges, you were able to raise a family. Tell us how you found a balance between all of these flights and your boys’ schoolwork?
I believe this was the most difficult challenge I faced. There were advantages and disadvantages. In Lebanon, we have bombs, they close the streets, the airport, it’s a stressful and unsecure life. To raise a family here is already difficult. Now imagine living here and flying away from your family. In 2014, I received a message that there was a bomb next to my house in Hotel Duroy. My husband was in Turkey back then. My kids were 6 and 9. It took me time to dial and be able to reach out to them. When I did, my son told me it’s a very big Sukleen truck.
Your mind is always thinking and on the plane I am totally disconnected; I cannot be reached. The same second of the explosion of August 4, I landed in Abidjan.
The aviation world being disconnected is hard, but in Lebanon what is good is having family and friends surrounding you. There’s no way to ask someone else to help me with my kids if I were abroad. In Lebanon, this is not an advantage, it’s a grace. We always have someone we can count on and it doesn’t necessarily have to be family and friends. Anyone can help anyone in this country. Even the guy at the grocery shop. My husband played both the role of Mom and Dad when I was flying and vice-versa.
At BOC, we aim to help people discover beautiful hidden gems. Can you tell us about one hidden gem you were able to discover thanks to your profession?
Honestly, I believe that in every country I go to, there is something mind-blowing; everywhere there is a hidden gem. But I still think that Lebanon is the nicest country in the world, ‘til now. The most beautiful hidden gem that I adore is Lebanon. As much as I have toured the world, ‘til now, if I see a photo of a Lebanese breakfast in Jbeil or in Sour with a song from Fairuz, I start crying. It’s a beautiful country. There isn’t anything that there is not in it and within this small area. This is really a miracle. You don’t have to travel long. You go up from here to there, and everywhere you find something.
Now let’s put Lebanon aside. There are cultures and natural things that stick in one’s mind. Cultural things normally have to do with historical stuff, or when someone is really attached to their traditions. But it’s nice to find communities that are still very traditional. Like in Namibia, for example, there are still tribes that live like the old times. Until now, if someone gets ill, they remove the roots from the plants to give it as a remedy. They still believe that people who die go and become gods; that’s really their belief. They don’t act, this is how they are. This is nice; to see that globalization didn’t hit some people. They want no McDonald’s or shopping malls either. And they’re happy. This is the most important: happiness. It doesn’t have to do with the technology and the money and or all these advancements that we have. So cultures like Namibia or like Thailand, these tribes are still alive and they are still living. You feel as if you opened a history book and you entered it.
Cuba, you see history still there. They are still living in 1950s; all their cars are from the 50s. These are hidden gems, which I hope they will not disappear.
Natural landscapes, wherever you go. First of all in the plane, from up there, how we see the world, it’s amazing. The sunsets, the sunrises, the colors we see, the stars. It’s so calm, it’s tranquility, peace of mind. Yoga in the sky, literally. And we are alone up there; we don’t have passengers and people around.
You have places that are amazing. Mosquito Bay, like the aurora in the skies, this place has a sea that appears to be dark and black. It’s filled with bioluminescence. When you put your hand in it, the whole area lights up. It is beautiful.
For 20 years, you were the only female pilot. Thanks to your lectures and efforts to raise awareness, there are other women working at MEA today. Do you have a message for the young women who share your dream/passion?
You remember when I told you I faced different challenges? This is my third challenge.
I was the only female pilot for 20 years, then I looked and asked myself, what did I do? I flew planes? It’s not fair. First of all, it’s not fair for the other generations that I am the only one. If I wanted to be very selfish, I would’ve continued my way. But it’s not good for humanity and it’s truly a shame. Second, if I tell you there’s a woman who applied to the army and she got in but they didn’t take another one other than her, subconsciously you would say if it was a good experiment, they would’ve taken other women. Maybe she failed, that’s why they never took someone else. So I could also be judged wrongly as if I didn’t pass as a pilot.
And that was the third challenge, which was to make women believe, or at least to expose them to the idea that you can be a pilot. And this is why I started doing talks at first at schools and universities, then started getting into social media.
Now we have 5 co-pilots; okay, they need some time to become pilots, but at least they are on the right track. And now I see girls, young 9-year-old girls, who tell me, “I want to be like you, you are my idol!” It’s so touching. This is what makes me feel like I succeeded. They are now exposed to the idea and are more aware.
I’m just letting them know that if I can make it, you can make it. I did not come from outer space. I’m just like you.
What’s your favorite moment of the flight and why?
Can they be two moments? Take-Off and Landing.
The take-off: A new adventure has started.
The landing: I’m going to see my kids back home.
The world is slowly recovering from the pandemic. In your opinion, how will the aviation industry recover from this crisis and what lessons should we learn from it?
I believe it will recover for sure because humans, in their nature, they love to travel. When you tell them, “It’s safe now,” they run. We are born as explorers. We were born as nomads and we still are. We need any means of transportation and we go.
What we can learn from this: first of all, that our hygiene practices were wrong, that the bins we put our stuff in at the airport are never clean, so at least we are giving more importance to hygienic stuff. Number 2, another thing that we took advantage of this year during the pandemic is internal tourism. For example, I had never toured Lebanon. This year, there is not one place I did not visit in Lebanon. And we start to appreciate and realize that we don’t need to go somewhere to find beautiful things to explore. Why don’t I tour my own country first? I finish with my country, then I start looking elsewhere.
The 3rd thing we learned is that it’s fine if we calm down a bit, and it’s fine if we sit at home a bit because life is going at the speed of light. Initially, we used to send a message to someone with a pigeon; for it to arrive, we would’ve finished many things. Then came the horse and we started to speed up. Then came the train, faster. The car, the plane. Now our messages move at the speed of light; WhatsApp messages, emails. So the pandemic slowed down all industries, especially the aviation industry because the life of the pilot is very fast. We learned to calm down a bit; it’s okay to travel once, not five times. These are the lessons.
Is there something you didn’t achieve yet that is on your bucket list?
There are a lot, and I still have so much time! I don’t understand, is it finished? (Laughing). Don’t laugh at what I believe; I believe in an afterlife, but please don’t laugh. Some people think I am crazy; I believe in an afterlife where we will take with us everything we learned on this earth. We will use it in the afterlife, so why not make the best out of this life? After my Master’s in Aviation, I studied mathematics again and I studied aviation psychology. Now I am doing a Master’s in Philosophy and I am learning piano. I am studying Greek and I feel like as long as my brain is still functioning, I will take part in many things to come. There are no limits. I do not think that I only want to do one thing. Everything I finish, I then ask myself, “And now what?”
And to be able to manage, you just have to know how to prioritize and it works out.
Where do you see yourself in ten years?
My plan is to retire a bit earlier than I am supposed to. To have my own plane. And unfortunately, I cannot do my plan in Lebanon, and it makes me feel sad.
I bought a house in Greece and my plan is to use this plane to transport people from one island to another in Greece. When I want to, not when they want to.
For example, honeymooners come to me and tell me they want to go from Rhodes to Crete, and I will say, “I want to see the sunrise. Can you make it tomorrow at 6:00 am?” It’s my regulations, my timetable, and flying people around. Wearing shorts and a T-shirt, music on, just enjoying what I like most in the world, which is aviation the way I like it to be: not scheduled, not wearing a tie, etc. So, I believe in 10 years I will be somewhere. So far, the plan is Greece, but I don’t know. If it works out in Beirut, I wish.
Woman empowerment is one of the hottest topics nowadays; can you share some quick words for all the women out there who are afraid of pursuing their dreams?
I’m too much pro-woman empowerment, although I hate to say this phrase. What I would like to tell women is, “Look at yourself as human beings, please. When we were born, we were born equal.” Of course, God did not create a boy or a girl that are different, but we are BROUGHT up differently. Like we said, we are brought up to think that if a girl falls and cries, it’s okay. If it’s a boy, it’s a shame. They tell her to let your brother carry the burden.
And mentally, since a very young age, we say that girls are good at drawing, literature, and music, whereas the boy is said to be good at mathematics and physics. I don’t believe this is right, it’s not true.
I would like to tell women, especially the moms: your daughters are equal. Give them equal chances, equal opportunities, especially in Lebanon when we have many obstacles. I do not suppress the role of boys, on the contrary, but teach the one that deserves it most. It can be the girl. Maybe his sister is cleverer than him. She might make a change in this community – in this life – more than him, and not because he is a male and she is a female. Never look at the gender to decide who has chances or opportunities.
And I tell the girls, “Dream big. I am not from outer space, I am not from Mars.” I was born exactly like any girl, and even worse maybe. At the end of the day, my childhood was rough. I lived the war and I was able to break many boundaries. So if I can make it, anyone can.
How has being a woman in a male-dominated sector shaped your perception and what did you learn from this experience?
How did I face comments I was hearing? I was hearing comments such as, “Oh, God, the captain is a woman?!” Some other times a passenger would decide to leave the plane, disembark because the captain is a woman. But of course they don’t say it; they find another excuse to disembark. They invent something that’s not that blunt. But there’s a guy after leaving the plane that said, “I am going for tourism, I am not bound to leave today. I will travel tomorrow. At least the captain would be a man.” The only way to support this was to not take it subjectively; he wasn’t leaving because the captain is Roula Hoteit; he left because the captain is a woman. You shouldn’t take it personally, and with a bit of patience and perseverance it changes. Now people ask me, “When are you flying the plane?”
If you had the chance to have another job, which one would you choose and why?
Can I pick something very hard?
I wish I could be an astronaut. I have to be in the sky!
What is the one quality that a pilot must have?
To act fast and correctly.
Because if I give you a question that has an answer, and there are 10,000 people here, if it has an answer, everybody will give me the answer, provided everyone takes his or her own time. Let’s assume it’s a math problem: some solve it, some of them research, some of them ask, some of them copy, some ask Siri, some of them just know. Given time, everyone will eventually give the same answer. Pilots have no time. For example, there is a speed that is called V1 in every take-off. If we have an emergency before that speed, the runway that is left will be enough for me to stand on the runway. If the emergency happened after this speed, the runway that is left is not enough and we fall in the sea or whatever surroundings we are in.
And if I am late in reacting... to stop or to fly. We are talking about fractions of seconds where you have to react. This is on the ground.
In the sky, if the engine is burning, in one second I have to think of what to do, where to land. I have to execute and I have no one I can ask to help. I cannot take a moment to think. I have to react FAST.
I have to put all the info in front of me in my head. Let’s assume I decide to go down in this airport, like it happened a couple of days ago and they took someone from the plane: do I have spare parts on the plane? Are there problems between my country and this country? These things are still small. How is the weather? Is the gas enough? If I land here and my tires are on fire, do they have fire equipment? I have to know what decision to take, how to start executing it and when. And I am the only one who takes the decision. This is why they say it’s always the pilot’s fault. Of course you consult your co-pilot, but the decision comes back to you. Act fast and correctly.
Who or what was your biggest inspiration to achieve what you did?
My friend was my challenge. It was a trigger, but not an inspiration.
Maybe being a stubborn child inspired me to achieve what I did.
What do you enjoy doing during your free time apart from being with the people you love?
You know, I didn’t get the chance to spend as much time with my kids as I wanted to. You know the life of a pilot; I don’t have so much time. But they grew up to be very independent. My older son is 19 doing computer engineering at Stanford and my younger is in IC. He is 16.
Reading! That’s why I went into philosophy, mainly because I love to read, and I read a lot.
Music as well.
Recently I’m also doing sports and before I did not. I was very lazy.
Give me a book and I disappear, muted. I talk a lot, but when I see a book, I shut up
Please share some final words for those who still think that women can’t or shouldn’t drive a car.
I’m a living example that I got my flying license years before I got my driving license. I wasn’t able to drive a car but I was able to fly planes, which was easier. There are no crazy people around you! (Laughing) You’re alone in the sky.
So maybe there are certain things that we didn’t do or didn’t have time to do because we were not exposed to them. But I’m pretty sure we can do everything. It’s not because the woman makes traffic that she cannot do something else, no. She can, and she can do many things.
