Aarohi Pandit became World’s 1st woman to cross Atlantic Ocean solo in LSA

India’s Captain Aarohi Pandit became world’s first woman to cross Atlantic Ocean (AO) solo in a Light Sports Aircraft (LSA) named Mahi.

Key Highlights

• Aarohi Pandit is a 23 year old commercial pilot and LSA licence holder from Mumbai, Maharashtra.
• About: This achievement is part of her ongoing Women Empower (WE) Expedition in the tiny aircraft called ‘Mahi’. This one year-long global circumnavigation flight was launched with her friend Captain Keithair Misquitta on July 30 and both began their trip in August 2018. According to which she continued solo from UK to Canada, and will return to India with her friend by July 30 this year.
• Sponsor: The expedition is organised and sponsored by Social Access, a not-for-profit communications firm.
• Achievements: Both Pandit and Misquitta flew over Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab, and then to Pakistan, where they landed as well. This makes it first civilian LSA flight to land in neighbouring country since 1947. Then they went onto to Iran, Turkey, Serbia, Slovenia, Germany, France and UK.
• Other Records: En route her solo journey, she has set another world record as first woman pilot to fly solo in a LSA above treacherous Greenland ice-cap. She is also due for several other records by the time she will reach India.
• Itinerary: She took-off from Wick, Scotland (United Kingdom), with brief stopovers in Greenland and Iceland and continued journey under adverse and extreme weather conditions. After an exhausting 3,000 km long flight she landed her tiny aircraft at Iqaluit Airport in Canada.
• After a brief stop in Canada, Women Empower (WE) Expedition will continue with Aarohi flying westwards towards Russia. After clocking a flight of about 37,000 km she is scheduled to return home by July 30 2019.

About ‘Mahi’

• It is a tiny Sinus 912, a single-engine, ultralight motor glider.
• Sinus 912 weighs a little of 400 kg (nearly equivalent to a Bullet motorcycle)
• It is manufactured by Pipistrel of Slovenia.
• It is also the first Light Sports Aircraft (LSA) registered by Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) India.

Month: Current Affairs - May, 2019