“I did not wish to walk in the ways everybody else walked. My decisions and desires were different.” These are the words of Ayesha Aziz, the youngest female pilot of India. Ayesha was just sixteen when she secured a Degree in Aviation from Bombay Flying Club. In 2011, she obtained a student pilot license. Thus Ayesha became the youngest student pilot of India and the first female pilot from Kashmir.
“From my childhood, I had decided what I should be. At one point, I thought I should become a teacher. But, when I grew older, I realized that I should become a pilot” Ayesha said in one of the interviews. When her parents supported her dream, she began her flight to the limitless sky. When she passed out of high school, she decided to join the Flying Club. “I have only one thing to say to you: “If you ardently desire or dream for something, the whole nature will stay with you to realize it” she says.
“When you start to fly, you leave behind everything and attain greater speed than a machine. What you want then is serenity of mind. You will never be bored. While you are flying the aero plane, you will not even think if you are a man or woman, because the machine does not care about it,” Ayesha says. She also opines that a woman should hold her self-confidence in a male-dominated society.
Today, she is a member of Indian Women Pilot Association. She has also obtained a Flight Radio/Telephone Operators license. Besides these, she was one of the three Indians who were selected for NASA’s Space Training Course.
From her childhood, Ayesha dreamed of facing challenges. Her life is proof for her unflinching effort to realize that dream.
“Apply all your concentration on whatever you do. Persist on it. It is true that you need time to learn many things. But never be discouraged and lose hope” says Ayesha to the young people.
