The last time she saw France, Zainab Hossaini was a shivering 17-year-old refugee sitting in a boat in the early hours of Christmas Day, preparing to make the treacherous journey across the English Channel as an unaccompanied minor.
Yesterday she glimpsed its fuzzy coastline while piloting an aircraft 2,000ft above Kent. Hossaini, who was in the middle of her first flying lesson, said afterwards: “The view was so good, what I had always dreamed of.”
When the Observer published an account of Hossaini’s Channel crossing it generated widespread sympathy for the plight of the refugees. In the interview she told of her ambition to become an airline pilot. Last week Hossaini, who is from Afghanistan, turned 18 and a reader offered to pay for her initial flying lessons. She had her first one yesterday.
At 11.14am her Piper Archer plane took off from runway 03 at Lydd airfield near Ashford, about a mile from the coast. Minutes later, with the sun burning off the morning mist and more of France coming into view, the aircraft turned towards the Channel.
Below lay the beaches where hundreds of migrants have landed in dinghies over the past year. Another 11 aboard a small boat were intercepted by the Border Force on Friday.
At about 11.30am Hossaini’s plane flew over the sloping beach of Folkestone where she had landed in the UK eight months earlier, cold and vomiting with seven others at 2.40am on Christmas Day.
Piloting the Piper Archer was Diane Ellender, who several minutes into the journey turned to the teenager and said: “You have control.”
Hossaini took over an aircraft for the first time, the opening moments of a journey that will involve 45 hours of training and nine written exams before she secures her private pilot’s licence.
She guided the aircraft for 12 miles up the coast over the port of Folkestone towards Dover before turning back. “She was very calm, which is a good sign, and really enjoyed it, particularly the views as she flew over Folkestone,” said Ellender.
Moments after landing, Hossaini was already looking ahead to her next lesson. “I really enjoyed it, even the bit where it was bumpy,” she said.
But even as she plans her future, refugees like Hossaini remain the targets of political attack, including from the prime minister. On Friday, Boris Johnson appeared to prejudge asylum claims by warning migrants that the UK would “send you back” if they attempted to cross without the right papers.
At the same time, Priti Patel, the home secretary, announced she would be holding talks with her French counterpart after 64 migrants attempted to cross the Channel on Thursday. More than 900 people, including at least 80 children, have made the crossing in small boats so far this year.
For those looking after those children such rhetoric from the government is depressing. Bridget Chapman of Kent Refugee Action Network (Kran), a charity that has supported hundreds of unaccompanied minors who have arrived in Kent, said: “It’s an incredibly irresponsible thing to say. The prime minister knows that it’s morally not the right thing to do but also knows that legally he can’t send them back.
“People arriving on these dinghies often have very strong asylum claims. I am confused why the prime minister would say that.”
Before the flight Hossaini oozed confidence. “Nothing scares me, sometimes I see a plane crash on the news but it doesn’t scare me, only one in every few thousand crashes.”
Her calm disposition has come in useful. Her flight over Kent began with an overland journey from Tehran, where she had been living as a refugee with her Afghan parents, to the Turkish coast. She survived the notoriously dangerous sea crossing to Greece. But she later described the Channel crossing as much worse.
From Athens, Hossaini flew to Austria before making her way to northern France. Her mother remains in a Greek refugee camp.
“She is OK and very happy to hear that I am flying, maybe one day I can get her,” said Hossaini, who in the earlier Observer article was called Ameena to protect her identity as a minor.
While her asylum application is being processed she is studying English and maths at Canterbury College. In the meantime she is making plans for a career as a pilot.
“I will fly the crew at Kran on holiday to wherever they want,” she said.
Chapman answered: “Thailand please!” Hossaini smiled: “OK, sure.”
