Sofia became a helicopter captain at the age of 24.
IF you meet Sofia Lena William for the first time and she said she is in the aviation industry, your first thoughts would probably be that she is a flight attendant.
With a sweet smile, bubbly character and pretty face, anyone could be forgiven for making such a conclusion.
But you could not be more wrong. Sofia is in fact a helicopter pilot.
Not only that, she is also one of the youngest women captains in the industry.
Having only started her professional career as a chopper pilot in 2021, it’s quite a feat for the Sabah lass who is only turning 25 this year.
She has flown for Sabah-based regional charter airline Layang Layang Aerospace and is currently a pilot with state-owned Sabah Air Aviation Sdn Bhd. She has clocked over 700 flight hours.
“But that’s considered very little in the world of aviation. There are a lot more experienced pilots,” Sofia said in a recent interview with The Star.
Sofia is among the youngest women pilots in the industry.
“I am however so grateful and lucky I became a captain at a very young age, when I turned 24 last year.”
Soaring the skies in a helicopter was not always her passion, but rather a sense of giving back to the community was what led her to the doorsteps of aviation.
During her teenage years, Sofia said she was very much into volunteer work, going into interior and remote villages in Sabah to help send supplies to people there.
“I followed a lot of NGO groups, including unofficial ones, just so I could do community work.
“But most of the interior villages in Sabah are not accessible by road and so I began to think ‘maybe I can go in by helicopter’.
“I felt that if I pursued a career as a helicopter pilot, I would be able to help and meet new people at the same time,” Sofia said.
So, after completing her Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia exams in 2015, she enrolled in the Sabah Flying Club in Kota Kinabalu the following year.
Her introduction to flying was actually with a fixed-wing aircraft, the Cessna 172 Skyhawk.
After obtaining her private pilot licence (PPL) in 2017, she joined the Layang Layang Flying Academy where she learned to fly helicopters, earning her commercial pilot licence later.
Sofia, who is of Kadazan descent, said she initially had her doubts about a career as a pilot.
“All my other friends were going to university and all that, so I felt kind of left out at first. And it was initially hard to explain to them about my career choice.
“And being a woman in aviation was worrying as well, but my family was there with me the whole time, especially my parents,” she said.
Though she has an impressive CV, Sofia is raring to try, in her own words, “different kinds of flying”.
Among the more challenging tasks she has done was airlifting patients in emergency situations through rainstorms.
She even played a part in who would get to govern Malaysia when she delivered and fetched ballot boxes to the far reaches of Sabah in the last general election.
“We (other Sabah Air helicopter pilots) had to send the Election Commission workers and the boxes into remote areas and bring them back out, all under strict timing,” she said.
She also got to help the needy through the Flying Doctor Service, sending a medical team and supplies to Sabah’s interior, even up to the border in Pensiangan district.
During one of her more tense moments, Sofia recalled an evacuation flight that tested her mettle as a pilot.
It involved a baby just days old who had to be airlifted from the northern rural Pitas district to the state capital for urgent medical attention.
The rain was unrelenting that day, Sofia said, but she had to press on as the baby was surviving on an oxygen tank.
“Normally, we fly at about 1,000ft to 3,000ft but I had to fly lower than that due to the rain,” she said, adding she was running the risk of crashing into power lines, hills or tall buildings flying so close to the ground.
“But as long as you can see the ground, the pilot has the discretion to continue the flight but I remembered being stressed. But because I knew the route, I was confident of flying that low.
“I managed to send the baby to the hospital for proper attention and felt so satisfied and relieved,” Sofia said.
She said a lot of planning is needed and considerations like the weather and distance are weighed before a pilot can decide to take off.
“Our decision-making must be fast. And it has also to be the right decision. The safety of passengers is in your hands because pilots are on their own during flights.
“Thanks to our training, pilots are taught to be calm during the most stressful times. That is why becoming a helicopter pilot is very tough. It requires a lot of grit and determination, you have to persevere throughout,” she said.
Despite her achievements so far, Sofia said, some people still doubt her abilities as a helicopter pilot because of her gender.
Comments like “can she really do it?” are usual, she said. Some even question if she is a real pilot.
“I tell them I am getting paid to fly, it’s not a hobby,” she laughs, able to see the funny side of things.
On a more serious note, she acknowledges that, like many other sectors, aviation is a male-dominated industry but she is thankful that companies like Sabah Air are opening doors to anyone who is qualified to become a pilot.
Sofia said the company has been supportive towards her.
“The job is not whether you’re a woman or a man, it’s whether can you do the job or not,” she said.
Sofia hopes to inspire not just other women but the younger generation to pursue a career in aviation.
She said the industry is wide and not just restricted to pilots.
“I wanted to give back to the community, and from there (joining the aviation industry) came the passion for flying.
“But if you have no love for flying, there are other professions in the sector, such as engineering, air traffic control, ground handling and other options,” Sofia said.
