Brother of IAF airwoman killed in Nepal to get wings

The brother of the Israeli Air Force’s first religious female navigator, who died while on vacation in Nepal last year, is expected to follow in his sister’s footsteps by graduating pilot school and earning his wings next month.

Tamar Ariel’s brother, who cannot be named in the media for security reasons, will line up with other cadets who finish the prestigious pilots course at a graduation ceremony at Hazerim air base in the coming weeks, the Hebrew daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Wednesday.

Tamar Ariel, one of six children, made headlines when she completed flight school as a navigator in December 2012, the first Orthodox woman to do so. At her graduation ceremony, she stood out from her peers by wearing an ankle-length skirt in keeping with religious modesty norms.

“I don’t think that women need to go to flight school — I think that they can,” she told The Times of Israel at the time. “I recommend that any woman, religious or not, give it a shot. If they call you in, if you pass the tests, it means that the army thinks you can do it. So go ahead — try.”

During the war in the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2014 she flew the greatest number of combat missions in her squadron, her commander said.

In October of that year, she went, along with another pilot, to vacation in Nepal and walk the Around Annapurna circuit at what is considered the optimal time of the year.

But a highly unusual storm blew through region, pelting the high mountain passes with snow. Ariel and dozens of other trekkers encountered the brunt of the storm on the Thorong La pass, the highest point on the circuit. Sapped of strength by the altitude, the cold and the fast-accumulating snow, Ariel could no longer walk as afternoon turned to evening and the clusters of trekkers tried to make their way down from the pass to safety.

She died in the snow along with Agam Luria, Nadav Shoham, Michal Charkesky, and 36 other people, half of whom were Nepali.

Her brother, who family members said drew inspiration from his older sister, was already deep into his pilot training at the time. He is not the only one of the siblings heading for the cockpit — another younger brother is also currently in flight training to become a pilot, the report said.

In the wake of Tamar’s death, her mother Anat told Yedioth that during her graduation ceremony a senior IAF officer asked the proud parents how one raises such a family.

“I really don’t know,” Hana replied. “We are simple people.”