Lotfia ElNadi

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Lotfia ElNadi (also spelled El-Nadi, El Nadi, Alnadi, Al Nadi) (1907 - 2002) (Arabic: لطفية النادي) was an Egyptian aviatrix (woman pilot).

At the age of 26, she became the first Egyptian woman to fly a plane between Cairo and Alexandria, Egypt.

She had a strict upbringing. To achieve her dream -in a time when Egyptian women fought to obtain equal rights- Lotfia had to distract her father to be able to attend flying lessons twice a week without his knowledge or consent.

It is said that her first time in a plane was when she worked as a receptionist at Cairo airport and she had to hide in a 2-seater plane to try flying. When the plane took off, she popped her head up and told the pilot she only wanted to try the feeling! Later she learned to be a pilot. At one time she had to live in the dessert as part of a survival training course. The only women in that group were herself and another girl. The men respected them very much because they were doing things the men had difficulty doing.

After her mother discovering her secret desires to learn flying, she decided to help her daughter achieve that goal by covering up and telling her husband that Lotfia was attending additional study group.

Lotfia never married, and lived in Lausanne, Switzerland most of her life in her own apartment in the downtown area. (Switzerland gave her Honorary Citizenship). She lived with her brother's son and his family in Canada for a few years before she died at the age of 95 in Cairo, Egypt, among family relatives and friends

She was a friend of Amelia Earhart who used to send her letters when away in trips. She was very honest, very funny, and very direct.

She has been decorated with medals from a number of Presidents and notaries around the world. Her respect, determination, and ambition gained her status as a Women's Equal Rights Advocate in the Middle East and the rest of the world.

In 1996, "Take Off From the Sand" an interesting 60 minute 35mm documentary was made by Wageh George to trace the life of this daring pioneer. When asked about the true reason of why she wanted to fly, she said "I learned to fly because I love to be free."