Flying solo: Najla Dorsey soars through the aviation industry

Najla Dorsey, an Ohio State alumna, is currently the sole Black flight instructor at The Ohio State University Airport. | COURTESY OF THE AVIATION ALUMNI SOCIETY AND ADAM STIFFLER

By Chantal Brown

Hailing from the city of brotherly love, Najla Dorsey is used to being the only sister.

Dorsey, the only woman of three siblings in her family, is also currently the sole Black flight instructor at The Ohio State University Airport. The Ohio State alumna said she did not always have a clear idea for what she wanted to do with her life.

“I went to mechanic school to work on cars, completed that and worked at a couple of shops for a few years, but it wasn’t very challenging for me,” Dorsey said. “It was something I enjoyed, but I was like, ‘This isn’t how I want to earn a living.’ I knew I could do a lot better, you know? I knew I had the capabilities or mental capacity to do something a little bit more challenging and at a higher status.”

So Dorsey decided to pursue a career in aviation, an industry where less than 1 percent of its professionals are Black women, according to a 2021 USA Today article.

She later applied to work for Southwest Airlines as a ramp agent at Philadelphia International Airport. Agents loaded and unloaded baggage, marshaled aircrafts on the runway and made repairs on the planes, Dorsey said.  

Over the five years she worked with Southwest Airlines, she said she fell in love with the industry. While the work was hands-on, and she received enough flight benefits to take her anywhere from Madrid to Mexico, Dorsey said it had its faults.

“It was definitely a laborious job. There weren't many females; there were maybe like three of us. And then you’d see the pilot and they look like they're the only ones happy all the time,” she said.

Kathryn Federer-Karst, flight education program manager for the Flight Education department at The Ohio State University Airport, said she believes aviation is not a diverse field and women are underrepresented.

“It’s a male-majority field, just as many engineering fields are,” Federer-Karst said. “For a female to break through and be able to work with students and instruct them, that’s really saying something.”

Dorsey started taking lessons at Northeast Philadelphia Airport, and, despite facing financial struggles, she earned her private pilot’s license in 2016 before enrolling at Ohio State in 2017. She said the array of scholarship opportunities, unique courses and connections drew her to the Ohio State’s aviation program.

Through the university’s program, Dorsey earned hours toward her commercial pilot certificate. This was followed by her multi-engine plane and flight instructor certifications.

Dorsey credits her motivation to push through flight training challenges to her family, including her mother, who she said worked multiple jobs to take care of her and her two older brothers.

“My mom got sick and she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Unfortunately, she passed away in 2013, so that kind of really put like a fire under my behind,” Dorsey said.  “I just didn't want her life to go in vain. I always wanted to kind of make a legacy for her.”

After taking pauses in her training and postponing her graduation, Dorsey graduated with her professional pilot’s certificate and Bachelor's degree in air transportation from Ohio State in 2021. 

The Philadelphia native prides herself on not taking the easy way out. She said she continues to pursue her pilot ambitions despite financial and family hardships, coupled with plane repair delays affecting her ability to instruct her students.  

In her position as flight instructor, Dorsey said she guides herself and her students forward, as well as helps them create a legacy of their own.

With her experience as a part-time instructor in the Ohio State Flight Education program and her work as an air dispatcher for NetJets, Dorsey said she emphasizes to her students not to take flying so lightly.

“The program is, it is a challenge. You have to put in a lot of extra time and effort,” Dorsey said. “As an instructor, which is kind of like a facilitator, you just guide people along their flight training. But, ultimately, it’s their decisions.”

Alona Miller, a third-year in air transportation and a former student of Dorsey’s, said she has guided her at times where her training hit an impasse.

“I feel like she always pushed me to be a better person,” Miller said. “At some points in time you want to give up, but it never came to that point with her. She made me want to be in the plane. She made me want to go fly.”

Although her initial intentions were to work in airlines, Dorsey said she hopes to use her connections with NetJets to land a job as a private pilot that transports cargo. The pandemic, along with a change in preferences, caused her to change course.

Dorsey continues to prove that when it comes to achieving her goals, the pandemic, long workdays and unpredictable Ohio weather aren’t enough to ground her.

“As instructors, it is important for us to point out the positives,” Dorsey said. “A little bit of progress, even if [the students’] landing was crap, but maybe they kept their traffic pattern really good or maintained a nice air speed, a little bit of progress keeps hope alive.”