kristy.ramnarine@cnc3.co.tt
Ketonia Dominique aspires to serve as a role model for young women. The 25 year old aims to become a pilot for the national carrier Caribbean Airlines and has already made history by becoming the first locally trained female to attain a pilot’s licence in T&T.
“I don’t think there are words to describe how I feel; it is a very surreal thing,” she said.
“I am very happy right now and very thankful for the training to be over, I can’t put it into words. I am just very proud of myself, and I am very happy right now.
“I was always the role model to speak; I have a lot of cousins who would look up to me, and now it is just on a wider scale.”
The former Woodbrook Secondary School student said her alma mater was “over the moon.”
“There’s a page on Facebook; all the teachers have been calling me and messaging me,” she said.
“They want me to come back to the school to do career days; they are super excited.”
Dominique, who trained at Aerial World Services Limited in Camden, Couva, said there are other women in the programme as well.
“I honestly did not know until down to the very end when I did the flight test that I would be creating history,” she said.
“Everything happened really quickly. I was just trying to get it done. I really wanted to be a commercial pilot, and that is what I was focussing on. The owner of the school, Mr Nigel called me into the office and said, ‘You know you are the first female to do this, the first locally trained female pilot in Trinidad and Tobago. I was like, really? And he was like, ‘yes’!
“There were so many emotions at the time; I was shocked, I felt really, really happy, really proud. The whole thing was an adrenaline rush.”
Dominique said that oftentimes people tend to look down on the secondary schools in the country.
“Some of the best teachers are at those schools,” she said.
“I think it is about the child and what they put into it and not the name of the school.”
Dominique decided on becoming a pilot at kindergarten. The inspiration came during a field trip to the old airport in Piarco.
“At that time you could have gone to the lookout and seen where the aircraft landed,” she remembered.
“When we came back, I saw a female pilot, and I said I want to be like her; I want to fly an aircraft, and I just stuck with it through primary and secondary school, I stuck with it. Here I am now.”
Her road to success was not a smooth one. Dominique began her pilot studies in 2017, but when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the journey became bumpy.
“COVID hit when I started my commercial part of the training,” she said.
“It put a big pause on everything; just like the world, everything was on pause for two years. I just had to stay motivated and study ever so often because I wanted when things opened back up and everything came back to normal, I wanted to be at the same level or even better than I was before.”
Dominique began flying the Diamond DA 20 and then the Diamond DA 40.
“My first solo flight, I was screaming in my head,” she said.
“I was not scared at all. As I took off, it was just nothing. I was there, enjoying every second of it. It was just right.”
In September, Dominique will begin her multi-engine instrument rating to fly a larger aircraft.
“I am very excited, a little anxious about it because I know it is going to be a lot of work, but I am ready,” she added.
“My dream is to fly for our national carrier, Caribbean Airlines, so I will be sending my application to them, praying to God and letting him handle the rest,” she said.
As for the future, “I see myself working at Caribbean Airlines, flying all over the world, living my dream, and being a good example for other women out there so that they could know that nothing is impossible. With prayers, hard work, and faith, you can get it done.”
Her advice for other women wanting to enter the world of aviation.
“I would tell them that you have to want this; it is a lot of work, and you have to make a lot of sacrifices,” she said.
“Your dreams and your goals are your responsibility. You may feel tired and want to give up. Don’t take a break. Do what you need to do to get yourself back together, but continue. You have to push through.”
Dominique thanked her parents, Broderick Bacchus and Ketina Dominique-Bacchus, along with her grandfather Mervyn Dominique, for their supportive role in her life.
