Captain Shelly Dookram has been a pilot for two years and she vividly remembers being a little girl, watching planes take off from Eugene F Correia (then Ogle) airport and knowing that she wanted to fly them. Her family was poor, but somehow the dream was sustained and came true.

For the past two years, she has flown planes to and from the interior. She has also completed a number of medevac flights, which gives her a lot of motivation and satisfaction. When Dookram spoke with this newspaper, she was preparing to pilot a repatriated flight to Trinidad by picking up passengers who arrived in Guyana from the United States while T&T borders are closed to commercial flights.

Currently, she works for Roraima Airways. However, getting to where she is today was not all sunshine and roses. She found it extremely difficult to find a job after completing her training and was forced to settle for it in an office at the International Organization for Standardization. She later landed a job with a local airline that is no longer in business. Being a woman in a male-dominated industry turned out to be another challenge, she said, as people wanted to take advantage of it. She then left that company and then landed a job with Roraima Airways in 2019.

One of his greatest supporters and mentors is Captain Feriel Ally of Trans Guyana Airways. “I’ve known her for a while and always wanted to be like her one day. She breaks a lot of barriers and gives the guys a run for their money, ”Dookram said.

“For me, walking into a room full of guys gives me a sense of pride and accomplishment. If I can inspire a person, it will be a great achievement for me.

Another of his biggest supporters is his grandfather. She said without him she wouldn’t be where she is today.

Abandoned

Dookram was just a baby when her young mother abandoned her. She was found by her grandfather who took her in, and he and her grandmother raised her as theirs. Dookram shared that for many years she hated the woman who gave birth to her for leaving her, but as she got older she realized the dilemma her mother faced being too young and unable to take care of her. even, let alone baby news.

Her mother, she said, went on to have two more children, but they were raised by an aunt after her murder. Her grandmother, she noted, was mentally disturbed by her mother’s murder, so much so that she had to be placed on treatment. Dookram’s father, who had cancer, succumbed to it soon after.

“Growing up, I was very poor, so I couldn’t dream of much. I lived at Cummings Lodge with my grandparents. Where I lived, it was not far from Ogle airport, so I could see the planes taking off. I knew I wanted to be a pilot, but I knew we couldn’t afford it, so I pushed it to the back of my mind, ”she says.

Dookram attended Graham’s Hall Elementary School and Brickdam High School. There were days, she remembers, when she went to school without lunch because there was no money. There was also no money for textbooks, although his grandfather sacrificed a lot to provide him with the best he could. After graduating from high school, she had hoped to go to college, but knew she had to be patient. Because there was no one she could count on financially, she got a job. She then enrolled at the University of Guyana and with what she earned and the financial help of her grandfather and an aunt living abroad, she was able to graduate in computer science.

Take the plane

This led to her getting a job with Air Services Limited and later at Aurora Gold Mines for two years. It was while working with the first in 2014 that she flew for the first time. It was a caravan plane piloted by Captain Chris King to and from Kaieteur Falls. Although a passenger, Dookram had the opportunity to sit in the co-pilot’s seat. “It inspired me to be at the forefront to see where all the magic happens,” she said.

Over the years, Dookram had saved up a large chunk of her income and she realized she had a decision to make. Should she buy a house? Or should she follow her dreams? She decided to go with the latter.

After researching flight schools, Dookram approached five of them in the United States and was accepted into all of them. She chose to attend ATP Flight School in Daytona Beach, Florida. Once she accepted their offer, she was assigned a student advisor who guided her through completing her papers, financial documents, and applying for a student visa at the U.S. Embassy. Dookram graduated from flight school in 2018.

She shared that while studying in Florida, she and the other women in her class gained the respect of their male peers for choosing to join the industry. The same could not be said when he returned to Guyana. “In the world of aviation, there are a lot of challenges in a field dominated by men. There are some really good male riders who give you that boost and that encouragement and there are others who want to see you fail. I had to find that inner strength, ”she shared.

Dookram served as a co-pilot for 15 months, then in January of this year she was promoted to captain. “It’s a different ball game to be the captain. You should always think about the next step in an emergency. You are in the hot seat. But when you’re a co-pilot, it’s the captain who takes care of emergencies and you, as a co-pilot, really just sit there, ”she explained.

Her first flight as a captain saw her transporting officials from the Ministry of Public Works to Phillipai, Cuyuni / Mazaruni. According to her, it is not common for women to be released for their first flights inside. Usually, women are released for international flights. The Phillipai area, she noted, is earthly and the pressure was high, but it did well.

Phillipai isn’t the most difficult terrain Dookram has faced. She spoke of having to land on Gunns airstrip in region nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo). Not only is the area land, but the airstrip is only 1,800 feet long, she said. Also, when wet, the airstrip needs at least two days to dry out, otherwise an airplane could get stuck.

These hard-to-land places, she noted, are often the ones with the most breathtaking scenery. “Karasabai [in Region Nine] is a favorite indoor place to go. It is a perfect picture; there are a lot of mountains, ”she says.

Roraima Airways, she pointed out, also offers flights and charters to and from Trinidad, Barbados, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and other Caribbean islands. Regarding the current volcanic disaster in St Vincent, Dookram said the airline has a flight on hold. However, as the airport is covered in volcanic ash and soot, no one is allowed in or out.

In addition to being a pilot, Dookram is vice president of the Guyana Pilots Association. The association has 60 members including army pilots. Five members of this body are women; two are captains – Dookram and Captain Ally, who is also president of the association – while the other three are co-pilots.

In his spare time, Dookram enjoys spending time with his cats, Luna and Oscar, both of whom are rescues.

Today the captain has a new goal; she plans to fly commercial planes one day. Given his challenges, the pilot warns others: “Don’t give up even if it seems impossible. It seemed impossible to me at one point, but here I am today. A miracle can happen. “