A 23-year-old man named Malik Sinegal, from Mississippi, has made history by becoming the youngest African-American certified Boeing 777 pilot worldwide.
Malik earned a degree in flight operations from Delta State University, United States a year before his achievement. He stated that he did not know what he had achieved until a Boeing representative called to congratulate him last month.
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The Boeing 777, commonly referred to as the Triple Seven, is an American long-range wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It is the world’s largest twinjet and the most-built wide-body airliner.
“The Triple 7 is one of the airplanes that people usually don’t touch until they’re around their forties or fifties or they’ve been at the airlines for a very long time. And I came down with the opportunity where a scholarship opportunity where I was able to get into the airplane,” he said.
Malik said he has had his eye on the Boeing 777 since 2004 when as a child he got to go inside of it in Alaska.
“The biggest reason for me is that I’ve always wanted to fly this airplane. I was able to get in it for my first time in 2004 going to Anchorage, Alaska, which is my favorite place in the world,” he said.
In 2018, Malik first got to enter the cockpit of his dream jetliner after winning a scholarship through his school. As a junior commercial aviation major at Delta State University, he was selected to serve as an ambassador for Republic Airlines, which entailed recruiting pilots.