Meet Ayesha Aziz, India's youngest pilot who secured license at 16!

[email protected] (Anjali Bisaria, IndiaTimes)
May 10, 2016

May 10: Ayesha Aziz was all of 16 when she got licensed as a pilot. The girl, who dreamt of flying planes when she grew up, got her wish fulfilled and how! At 20, the young achiever feels proud to have become the country's youngest pilot!

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Ayesha always wanted to do something challenging and unconventional. "More than being India's youngest pilot, I am happy for having accomplished my childhood goal," said Ayesha, as reported by The New Indian Express.

A resident of Mumbai, Ayesha's love for flying took root whenever she visited her native place, Kashmir. The twice-a-year trips to the valley made Ayesha more determined to become a pilot when she grew up.

"While I would enjoy take-off and landing of the plane, my brother would be scared and always sleep during the flight," chimed Ayesha.

The lucky girl also got the chance to visit NASA and meet John McBride. But her favourite moment was when she met her "second greatest inspiration" - astronaut Sunita Williams.

"I met her when she came to Worli in 2013 or 2014. I shared my experiences with her. I told her about the activities I participated in NASA like scuba diving, moon walk and bunny walk which an astronaut should know," she said.

Ayesha joined a flying school after she passed high school. She took ground lessons and passed five viva sessions. And as soon as she turned 16, she was awarded her student pilot license in November 2013. However, due to financial constraints, her training in commercial flying got delayed.

She currently pilots single engine Cessna 152 and Cessna172.

At the Bombay Flying Club, Ayesha is one of the only 4 girls studying B.Sc. third year in Aviation. But this doesn't pull her down and once she completes 80 hours of the total 200 hours of flying, Ayesha will finally gain her commercial pilot licence.

Apart from flying, Ayesha has done several photo shoots for a magazine and even done an ad commercial for Whisper.

Women like Ayesha Aziz and Saara Hameed Ahmed (India's first Muslim woman pilot) are showing what it is to chase their dreams with ardent fervour and not bow down to the pressures that usually force women to abandon theirs.

Ayesha, you are an inspiration to girls everywhere. May you soar to new heights in life!

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Nasir KK
 - 
Tuesday, 10 May 2016

Ayesha., you are the inspiration to girls everywhere. may you soar to new heights in life...all the best.

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coastaldigest.com news network
August 8,2020

Mangaluru, Aug 8: As visuals of the Air India Express flight crash at Kozhikode international airport emerge, one cannot help but be reminded of an eerily similar and unfortunate accident that occurred a decade ago. The August 7, 2020 tragedy brought back memories of the 2010 crash.

It was on May 22, 2010 that an Air India Express Boeing 737-800 flight from Dubai to Mangaluru over shot the runway while landing at Bajpe airport and fell into a cliff. Of the 160 passengers and 6 crew members on board, 158 were killed (all crew members and 152 passengers) and only 8 survived.

Even back then, the plane had split into two. The crash has been termed as one of India's worst aviation disasters.

The final conversations between Air traffic control (ATC) and the pilot prior to the landing showed no indication of any distress.

Like the Mangaluru accident, Karipur crash too happened when the flight was attempting to land.

The captain of the aircraft which crashed at Mangaluru, Z Glucia, was an experienced pilot with 10,000 hours of flying experience and had 19 landings at the Mangalore airport. Co-pilot S S Ahluwalia, with 3,000 hours of flying experience had as many as 66 landings at this airport. Both the pilot and co-pilot were among the victims.

An investigation into the accident later found that the cause of the accident was the captain’s failure to discontinue an ‘unstabilised approach’ and his persistence to continue with the landing, despite three calls from the First Officer to ‘go-around’.

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Agencies
February 4,2020

Lucknow, Feb 4: Even as anti-NRC protests continue to rage across the country, the Lucknow University has queered the pitch by demanding citizenship proof from RTI applicants.

The Lucknow University (LU) refused to provide the information sought by the people who filed the Right to Information (RTI) unless they furnished the proof that they were Indian citizens.

Alok Chantia, one of the RTI applicants who was refused information by the varsity, said that he had lodged a complaint with the vice-chancellor of the varsity but even then he could not get the desired information.

"It is shocking how the university has twisted the RTI law as per its whims and fancy. It does not have any authority to do so," said the RTI applicant.

Chantia, also a faculty member at a degree college here, had sought details of appointment of teachers for self-financed courses and their pay scale.

"It is possible that some applicants who may not be familiar with the provisions of the RTI, may have furnished proof of their citizenship to the varsity to get the information but that cannot become a rule," he pointed out.

When contacted, university officials admitted that such a practice had been going on in the varsity for the past few years.

"This practice started during the tenure of the former vice-chancellor S.P. Singh and still continues," said a senior varsity official.

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coastaldigest.com news network
May 30,2020

Kasaragod, May 30: Karnataka origin IPS officer D Shilpa has been appointed the new Superintendent of Police of Kasargod district.

The 35-year-old 2016-batch IPS officer is the first woman SP of Kasaragod. 

Her appointment follows the sudden transfer of P S Sabu who was hitherto holding the post. He has now been appointed as SP of Alappuzha.

Shilpa has earlier served as ASP of Kasargod. She was also ASP of Kannur during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Shilpa was one of the three IPS officers assigned to Kasaragod with IG Vijay Sakhare during the first phase of covid lockdown.

A native of HSR Layout in Bengaluru, Shilpa holds a Bachelor's degree in Electronics Engineering and a Masters Degree in Business Administration.

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