On March 8, Nova TV introduces us to an inspiring woman - the first Bulgarian woman to control air traffic over our country back in 1973 - Margarita Vragova.
A memory of an ideological “clash” - between the first Bulgarian woman air traffic controller in our country and a pilot from Syria with prejudices against women in this profession.
Margarita was also on duty during the 7.2 magnitude earthquake in Vrancea a few years later. “Bucharest closes the airport because there is an earthquake and no one can land – and I think that's when my first gray hairs appeared, because I had 5 planes in contact”, she says.
Inspired by her stories – her son Yavor and her granddaughter Margarita are following in her footsteps.
And 50 years later, there are already 41 female air traffic controllers. Some - after a sharp maneuver in their lives. “I graduated from NATFA, then I immediately started working as a staff at the “Bulgarian Army“ theater and I had started on a very different path, but there was something that I was missing. My husband then told me “Why don't you try, you will be very good”, says “Flight” manager Desislava Dimitrova.
With a child of only 1 year old and a thesis in progress – she passes all the exams and trainings - and proves that such a change in course is within the power of every woman. “We are also mothers – and I know that this quite stops ladies from developing professionally. It is not impossible, on the contrary – you even have enough time for your family and children”, adds Desislava.
The example of Margarita and Desislava also inspires those who dream of directing traffic in the skies above Sofia. “I just decided – I will graduate from law, but I will continue with what I really want. It is a responsible job, it is interesting, and it is very different from all professions”, says the law student at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohrdiski” Karina.
“You have to listen, because the hall is not perfect silence. If you want an atomic bomb to fall around you – "You watch the traffic, save whoever you can, wherever you can," explains Margarita.