Air India’s Captain Nivedita Bhasin says she will “cherish the Delhi-Vienna return flight she piloted to mark International Women’s Day this year till eternity”. After we took off from Delhi on March 1, the four-day trip was quite a celebration, she adds.
Team Vienna is what the vivacious pilot christened the 11-member crew of the flight. She was all excited that she flew to Austria and could meet Renu Pall, the Indian ambassador and her childhood friend. Co-incidentally, the Austrian charge d’affaires to India was also on the flight.
Friends through their years at Delhi’s Carmel Convent School, Bhasin and Pall met at Vienna this March, after many long years. Bhasin, who has been with Air India since 1984, says, “I remember fondly the many birthday parties we enjoyed as kids.”
And what was significant was the coming together of two strong and bold Indian women at the top of their professions, diplomacy and aviation, in Vienna.
Bhasin, 54, who became the youngest woman jet captain to pilot a commercial flight in 1990, says, “Flying is my passion. The moment I don my uniform, I’m transported to another world. And then I concentrate on the execution of the flight with devotion.”
In the Bhasin family, it is the next generation that is taking to the skies. Two women pilots among five pilots in the family is quite a distinction.
Bhasin’s father-in-law was a pilot, her husband and her two children—a son and a daughter—are also pilots. “The children nurtured this desire secretly,” she says when asked if her children had been vocal about their desire to take to their parents’ profession.
When asked how she feels when she is ready for a flight, she says, “As captains we become the ambassadors of the airline. For, it’s the captain’s sole responsibility to be in charge of all that happens in the plane, and on the flight.
Our job is to safely ferry the passengers to their destinations on time, irrespective of bad weather, ATC constraints, aircraft performance and many other factors, which are mostly unforeseen. A pilot needs a lot of skillful maneuvering and patience.”
The trend of operating all-woman crew flights was started by Indian Airlines in 1985. It was a flight from Kolkata to Silchar, and it co-incidentally had Bhasin on it as a co-pilot.
In fact, the Indian Airlines became International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) first airline in the world to fly an all-woman crew flight. And since then the airline has been operating all-woman crew flights to mark International Women’s Day.
Revealing what life has been for her as a pilot, Bhasin, who was 21 when she joined Indian Airlines, the domestic service of Air India, back then, says, “Turbulent days, filled with trepidation, years of sacrifice, guilt-ridden days leaving family and kids behind, and the ultimate satisfaction of pursuing my hobby.”
Aviation education is something Bhasin is very committed to. The charming pilot says she has been lucky in pursuing other hobbies—photography, painting and trekking. “If I could, I would go to space. That is something which I dream of,” says the pilot.
And for aspiring pilots she advises, “With dedication, discipline and determination, one can accomplish everything you want. And to be able to continue to excel and sustain, you have to be passionate about whatever you do.”