On the occasion of Women's Day on Monday, Air India will make history, deploying an all-women pilot team on the ultra long haul, non-stop flight (AI-141) from Mumbai to New York.
The Boeing 777-200 Long Range aircraft will be operated by a double set of all-women crew, supported by women of the National Aviation Company of India Limited (NACIL), the holding company of AI.
Captain Rashmi Miranda and Captain Sunita Narula will be the commanders, and Captain Swati Rawal and Captain Neha Kulkarni First Officers on the 14-hour flight. Mrs. Harpreet A De Singh will carry out a line observation safety audit; the flight will be despatched by Nandita Deshpande and the load and trim sheet will be prepared by Ferzin Kuruvilla.
Additional flights
On Monday, various other flights will also be operated by an all-women crew. Aboard Airbus A310, Captain Trisha Mohan will operate as commander of AI 815/816 from Hyderabad-Damam-Chennai along with first officer Captain Thanmai Papagari.
Other flights from Mumbai to be operated with all-women crew are IC-686, IC-105 and IC-129. Captain S. Deshmukh, Captain Sangita Bangar and Captain L. Nagrath will be the commanders and Captain Rikita Singh, Captain Deepali Pratape and Captain Aprajita Lal the First Officers. The flights will be despatched by Anjali Dhiman and the load and trim sheet prepared by Archana Patki.
In the southern region, Captain Deepa will operate IC 573/574, accompanied by first officer Captain Sonia Jain, in the Chennai-Colombo-Chennai sector. The northern and eastern regions will also operate with all-women crew in various sectors.
Neetu Sharma, an aircraft maintenance engineer (AME) on B737-800 in Air India Express, will certify the aircraft from Sharjah. Dr. Varsha Sawant and Dr. Alka Mathur will carry out breathalyser tests in Mumbai.
NACIL has more than 136 women pilots flying in various international and domestic sectors. Women pilots, flight despatchers, AMEs, safety and quality auditors, cabin crew, doctors, technical officers, simulator maintenance engineers, ground instructors for training pilots, etc, all form part of a highly skilled and technically proficient team of women in Air India, according to an airline release here on Saturday.
