Chipo Matimba

Matimba grew up in the Belvedere suburbs of Harare. She was one of nine children born to a dressmaker, who became a single mother when Matimba's father died when she was ten years old.^[1]

In 1994, Matimba became one of Zimbabwe's first women pilots after seeing an advertisement recruiting pilots to the Zimbabwean Air Force.^[2] After noticing the recruitment advert had no gender restrictions, she sought to apply. She was selected as one of 10 successful applicants to the programme, out of thousands of applicants.^[1]

Matimba earned her wings in 1996, becoming the Air Force's first female combat pilot two years later.^[3][4] After leaving the military, she became one of the only women pilots for Air Zimbabwe, where she served as a captain flying the Airbus A320.^[1][5]

In 2015, she and fellow female aviator Elizabeth Simbi Petros became the first women pilots to fly a Boeing 737 from Harare to Victoria Falls as part of the country's first all-female flight crew.^[2][6][7][8] As of 2016, Matimba was one of only six female pilots for Air Zimbabwe.^[9]

In 2018, Matimba left Air Zimbabwe to fly for Fastjet.^[10] In 2021, Matimba piloted another all-female crewed flight for Fastjet, this time flying from Harare to Johannesburg in honor of International Women's Day.^[11][12]

• List of firsts in aviation
• Women in aviation
• Timeline of women in aviation