Harpreet A De Singh is the president of the Indian Women Pilots Association (IWPA), a registered charitable trust which celebrated its 50th anniversary recently. The motto of an IWPA event held in the Capital was “Bharatiya Nari Ki Udan Shakti”. IWPA has been helping women who want to pursue a career in aviation and takes a stand on issues of women in the aviation sector, as well as linked sectors like aerospace and aircraft maintenance.
Ms Singh is the first woman in the history of Air India to become the Chief of Flight Safety. She is a qualified commercial pilot but has not flown herself. Although she got selected in Air India to become a pilot she was declared unfit owing to a medical test that was introduced for the first time. But she moved to the USA and became a flight instructor there and later returned to India and joined Air India. She has served Air India in various capacities. As Chief of Flight Safety, she has to make sure that pilots follow all safety norms. For this, she and her team make surprise visits to the cockpits of Air India aircraft.
In an interview with ABHIJEET ANAND, Ms Singh said IWPA has been giving individual loans to women who have got into flying but do not have enough financial support. She spoke about other obstacles that women face in taking up aviation as a career. Excerpts:
Q: What are the challenges in career progression being faced by woman pilots?
A: From the feedback we have received from all airlines there are no problems as far as career progression is concerned. Once they enter the organisation, there is no discrimination. The feedback received from all airlines shows that there is no problem.
Q: Are private airlines sensitive to personal needs of the women pilots?
A: Government airlines are sensitive as they follow requirements. About other airlines I presume they are. We don’t have enough information on how they are taken care of separately. Maternity leave, of course, they give. But how sensitive they are is difficult to say. Government airlines are sensitive.
Q: Cabin supervisors say that rostering is a problem as they are told about an international flight only a day or two ahead. Does the same problem exist for women pilots also?
A: This problem is actually not a gender issue. This is an overall pilot shortage issue. When somebody falls sick and if there is no standby, then somebody else’s roster gets disturbed. This is a general issue. It can happen to pilots and cabin crew also. Men face the same problem at times.
Q: Are women pilots able to maintain the work-life balance?
A: Many of them are able to. There is a good family support system. This is the good thing about living in India. Many of them live in joint families. Either the woman’s family or husband’s parents help out. It is difficult no doubt.
Q: There might be some cases where women quit the profession because they are unable to cope?
A: I have not seen too many such cases of resignations. But sometimes long leaves of absence are taken because they had some family issues.
Q: There was a lot of protest by male pilots who are commanders on the one-year notice period regulation of DGCA. Did women pilots also have any issues?
A: Again it is not a woman’s issue. This notice period is a pilots’ issue. Of course the pilots are not happy with such a regulation. If they want to go, they should be allowed to go. But now since it is the law all will have to abide by it.
12/01/18 Abhijeet Anand/Statesman
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Ms Singh is the first woman in the history of Air India to become the Chief of Flight Safety. She is a qualified commercial pilot but has not flown herself. Although she got selected in Air India to become a pilot she was declared unfit owing to a medical test that was introduced for the first time. But she moved to the USA and became a flight instructor there and later returned to India and joined Air India. She has served Air India in various capacities. As Chief of Flight Safety, she has to make sure that pilots follow all safety norms. For this, she and her team make surprise visits to the cockpits of Air India aircraft.
In an interview with ABHIJEET ANAND, Ms Singh said IWPA has been giving individual loans to women who have got into flying but do not have enough financial support. She spoke about other obstacles that women face in taking up aviation as a career. Excerpts:
Q: What are the challenges in career progression being faced by woman pilots?
A: From the feedback we have received from all airlines there are no problems as far as career progression is concerned. Once they enter the organisation, there is no discrimination. The feedback received from all airlines shows that there is no problem.
Q: Are private airlines sensitive to personal needs of the women pilots?
A: Government airlines are sensitive as they follow requirements. About other airlines I presume they are. We don’t have enough information on how they are taken care of separately. Maternity leave, of course, they give. But how sensitive they are is difficult to say. Government airlines are sensitive.
Q: Cabin supervisors say that rostering is a problem as they are told about an international flight only a day or two ahead. Does the same problem exist for women pilots also?
A: This problem is actually not a gender issue. This is an overall pilot shortage issue. When somebody falls sick and if there is no standby, then somebody else’s roster gets disturbed. This is a general issue. It can happen to pilots and cabin crew also. Men face the same problem at times.
Q: Are women pilots able to maintain the work-life balance?
A: Many of them are able to. There is a good family support system. This is the good thing about living in India. Many of them live in joint families. Either the woman’s family or husband’s parents help out. It is difficult no doubt.
Q: There might be some cases where women quit the profession because they are unable to cope?
A: I have not seen too many such cases of resignations. But sometimes long leaves of absence are taken because they had some family issues.
Q: There was a lot of protest by male pilots who are commanders on the one-year notice period regulation of DGCA. Did women pilots also have any issues?
A: Again it is not a woman’s issue. This notice period is a pilots’ issue. Of course the pilots are not happy with such a regulation. If they want to go, they should be allowed to go. But now since it is the law all will have to abide by it.
12/01/18 Abhijeet Anand/Statesman
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