The United Arab Emirates’ first female Air Force pilot was recognized for her achievement in 2014. Capt. Mariam Hassan Salem Al Mansouri was presented with the Mohammad Bin Rashid Excellence Award in the “Pride of the UAE” category.
Joining the UAE Armed Forces after finishing high school, Al Mansouri began working at the General Command. In 2007, she became the first woman to apply for a pilot’s position and and in September 2014 was involved in coalition airstrikes against the terrorist group Daesh.
Al Mansouri flies F-16 Block 60 aircraft and is proud of her role as part of her country’s national defense force. She described her field as competitive and one that requires extreme discipline to achieve success. She said men and women were treated equally in the Air Force.
“Everybody is required to have the same high level of combat competence,” she said in an article in The National. Rather than focusing on competing with her male counterparts, she looked inward and worked on developing her own skills.
The Air Force captain has a bachelor’s degree from UAE University in English literature and graduated from Khalifa bin Zayed Air College.