Captain Simisola Ajibola was born into a family of aviators. She and her siblings Ademola and Adeoye took after their father, a retired pilot. It was no surprise Ajibola became the hero pilot whose shrewd judgement averted a crash at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos, Nigeria.

Flying about 133 passengers aboard the Air Peace Boeing 737 which lost its tyres after crash-landing at the Airport facility, Ajibola expertly brought the near-fatal incident under control, thus saving the lives of those aboard amid poor visibility and bad weather.

“The aircraft landed hard, causing the nose wheels to separate from the strut. All 133 passengers and six crew disembarked safely, although there was extensive damage to the runway and plane,” was how The Cable described the incident in 2019.