The Turkish Navy has qualified its first female maritime patrol aircraft pilot. Navy 1st Lt. Hilal Aydın, 28, has completed her flight training and serves with the Naval Air Command (Deniz Hava Komutanlığı) in Kartepe, in Kocaeli province east of Istanbul12. Turkish media describe her as the navy's first female aircraft pilot24. Her story became public on 7 October through a report by the İhlas News Agency (İHA) and an interview with the broadcaster NTV23.

From warship to cockpit

Aydın was born in Adıyaman and grew up in Ankara. Her father is a non-commissioned officer in the Turkish Armed Forces, and she says she wanted to be a soldier from childhood21. After secondary school she spent a preparatory English year in 2016 at Middle East Technical University, where she planned to study geological engineering. There she saw recruitment posters for the National Defence University and applied to the Naval Academy, the Deniz Harp Okulu23. She started there in 2017 and graduated with the rank of lieutenant (teğmen) on 30 August 20212.

She then served aboard the frigate TCG Gemlik as an assistant operations and electronic warfare officer and as communications officer, and later as safety and accident prevention officer with a fleet task group214. At the academy, a recruiting slogan of the naval air arm stayed with her: "İki maviye hükmedenler", roughly "those who rule the two blues", the sea and the sky. She says that is where her path to the cockpit began23.

How her training went

In 2022 Aydın applied in a navy pilot recruitment round. After interviews and exams she flew student selection flights at the 18th Main Base Command: 13 sorties, at the end of which she had to show a check pilot that she could take off and land safely. "I cannot describe the happiness I felt when I heard the check pilot clear me for solo with the tower," she said24.

She completed her initial and basic flight training at Türk Hava Kurumu University, the university of the Turkish Aeronautical Association, and her advanced phase at the navy's flight school, the Deniz Tayyare Uçuş Okulu Komutanlığı. She graduated there as the first woman qualified to fly maritime patrol aircraft24. She is now in type training at the naval aviation training centre on one of the navy's patrol aircraft, which she calls the P-35 type, before joining an operational squadron2.

What a maritime patrol aircraft does

Maritime patrol aircraft watch over large areas of sea from the air. NTV describes them as the navy's eyes in the sky, with reconnaissance and intelligence capabilities3. The Turkish Navy flies patrol aircraft based on the CN-235 (designated P-235 in Turkey) and the ATR 72-600 (P-72), the latter converted for anti-submarine warfare7. In the İHA footage, Aydın is seen with a navy CN-2355.

Not the first woman in Turkish naval aviation

Aydın is the first female fixed-wing pilot, but not the first woman to fly for the Turkish Navy. In 2022 Anadolu Agency interviewed Hatice Yeşiltaş, then a navy captain (Deniz Yüzbaşı) and the only female pilot of the Naval Air Command. She had been flying the Seahawk helicopter for years with the 351st Naval Helicopter Squadron. Like Aydın, she started as an officer at sea, aboard the frigate TCG Gelibolu, and began flight training in 2014 at the army aviation school6.

Aydın names Sabiha Gökçen, Atatürk's adopted daughter, regarded in Türkiye as the first female fighter pilot, as her role model21. "I am happier and prouder than the Hilal of my dreams," she said. Her advice to girls who dream of a uniform and the sky: never stop dreaming, working for it and believing in it42.

What her route shows

The Turkish path Aydın describes runs through the military first: officer training at the Naval Academy, a posting at sea, then a competitive selection with interviews, exams and graded selection flights before any wings are earned2. Yeşiltaş followed the same pattern a decade earlier6. For anyone considering a military flying career, that means preparing for an officer selection as well as a pilot selection, with interviews, exams and a short, assessed flying phase early in the process.