Major Patricia Yapp Syau Yin, a 46-years old Sabahan, is the first Asian female fighter pilot to fly the MiG-29. She had not only made history in Malaysia but across continents!
Yapp took interest in flying when her elder brother became a pilot. Her career choice was opposed by her father, but it did not deter her from joining the Royal Malaysian Air Force(RMAF) until she passed the first selection process.
She graduated from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia with a diploma in Aeronautical Engineering in the year 2000. Upon completing her flight training in 2002, she opted to be a fighter pilot and flew the Aermacchi MB-339 aircraft for the next four years. In the following years, she became an operational and tactical lead pilot with the No. 17/19 Smokey Bandits Squadron in Kuantan that files the MiG-29N Fulcrum air superiority jets.