Aarohi Pandit has created history by becoming the first woman solo pilot to cross Pacific, Atlantic Ocean. The Mumbai girl flew from Alaska’s Unalakleet city across the Pacific Ocean’s Bering Sea and landed safely at Anadyr Airport in Russia’s Far East region of Chukotka. At 23, Arohi has made the country extremely proud by breaking and making new records, including becoming the world’s first woman to complete a solo flight over the perfidious Greenland ice-cap in an LSA. Arohi is also the first woman to fly all across Canada from the North East to the North West via the South.
All About Aarohi Pandit
Arohi, who is an Indian commercial pilot license and LSA license holder, along with friend and co-pilot pilot, Keithair Misquitta, initiated the world’s first all-woman team to circumnavigate the Earth in her LSA – “Mahi”, on 30th July 2018. “Mahi” is a tiny single-engine Sinus 912 aircraft, weighing less than a Bullet motorcycle, manufactured by Slovenia’s Pipistrel, and is the first LSA registered with the Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) India.
Both the girls flew together across India’s Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Serbia, Slovenia, Germany, France, and Britain. Later on, since the cockpit had to be installed with an oxygen system, a life-raft, and other safety gadgets for the trans-oceanic flights from London, Aarohi decided to carry on with the journey solo.
An ardent fan of the legendary American aviator, Amelia Earheart — the world’s first woman to make a solo transatlantic flight in 1932, Aarohi Pandit devoted herself during her seven-month preparatory training schedule planned across India, Greenland, Siberia, and Italy over oceans, high altitude, snowstorm, extreme weather conditions, and difficult terrains to test her physical as well as mental capabilities.
Aarohi is indeed the idol for girl-power. She has proved that no feat is big or small until one has crossed it. She truly represents all that young Indian women are capable of when given the opportunity.