First Indian woman to command jet engine aircraft retires

Mumbai: The first Indian woman to have commanded a jet engine aircraft retired on Wednesday after serving as a pilot for the erstwhile Indian Airlines for thirty years.
In 1988, Captain Saudamini Deshmukh became the first Indian woman captain to command a Boeing 737. She also became the first Indian woman to command the Airbus A320 in 1994. Capt Deshmukh joined erstwhile Indian Airlines in 1980 as a co-pilot on the Fokker F27 Friendship turboprop aircraft.
“I never thought of it as anything special but by God’s grace, there are a lot of firsts in my career. Whatever I did, I became the first woman pilot in India to do so,” said Capt Deshmukh. “As a child, I had always wanted to become a pilot and by God’s grace it happened,” she added.
01/04/10 Shashank Shekhar/Indian Express

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Categories: Air India Domestic Apr 2010, NACIL Apr 2010