The inimitable Donald Duke, former Governor of Cross River State, over the weekend, received a rare public acclaim for responding to a plea several years ago from a Flight Attendant to train as a pilot. The pilot, Remi Etta, shared an enthusiastic acknowledgement of Mr. Duke’s benignity when he dedicated the 2025 edition of World’s Pilot Day to Mr. Duke on his Facebook page for the role he played in realising his dream of becoming a pilot.
Read the Pilot’s very emotional and inspiring story as culled from his Facebook post to mark the World’s Pilot day, Saturday, April 26th.
“Today is World’s Pilot day, I just completed and passed my Bi-Annual Recurrent Training a few minutes ago. As I was signed out , my heart as always goes towards my mentor, I would forever remain unrepentantly grateful to THE MAN, HE DONALD DUKE. He had the option of ignoring me. Looking at my name you won’t even realise I am a citizen of his state. I was not a member of any party. We are not related, but he saw in me a potential devoid of any sentiments, party affiliations, family ties, and ethnicity. He honoured my request, gave me a net and taught me the art of fishing, not just a meal of fish. Today, the world celebrates WORLD PILOT DAY. To me, it’s World DONALD DUKE DAY. I am forever grateful to the man who made me today to be CAPT REMI ETTA, with thousands of Jet hours . God bless THE MAN DD.”
World Pilot’s Day celebrated every April 26th, according to safetyinmotion.aero, recognizes the many contributions pilots have made in safely transporting millions of people around the world.
World Pilot’s Day started in 1912 when a young Turkish pilot named Fesa Evrensev took to the skies for the first time. According to Turkish sources, Evrensev flew missions during the 1912-1913 First Balkan War when the combined armies of Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, and Montenegro took back 82% of their occupied lands from the Ottoman Turks. Twenty years later, in 1933, Evrensev became the first president of the Turkish national flag carrier Turkish Airlines.
In 2013, prompted by the Turkish Airlines Pilots Association, the IFALPA created a day to celebrate pilots. Since Turkish pilots initiated this idea, the anniversary of Fesa Evrensev’s first flight was chosen.
The first World Pilots Day was celebrated the following year on April 26, 2014. Celebrating all their hard work and resilience in coping with layoffs and reduced hours during COVID-19, it is more important than ever to recognize airline pilots’ dedication to ensuring that air travel is as safe as possible.
