Nairobi, April 26 -- Captain Patsy Ouma Karanja never set out to conquer the skies. As a child, she imagined herself in a pharmacist's white coat, dispensing prescriptions behind a counter. 

That ambition carried her through boarding school at Mukumu Girls in Kakamega, a stint in Machakos, and two years on a student exchange in the United States. It was only after returning to Kenya, restless in a gap year, that she casually told her parents: "Maybe I'll try being a pilot." 

Her mother hesitated, wary of a daughter stepping into a world where women were scarce. But persuasion won out, and Patsy enrolled at Wilson Airport for a private pilot's licence. Today, she holds one of aviation's most exacting roles. At RwandAir, her tit...