At Wings India 2018, Aerotech FMS showcases `Mahi’ – the Sinus 912 motor glider which will circumnavigate Planet Earth for women empowerment, raising funds for the WE! Udaan Scholarship for underprivileged Indian girls who want to learn and earn from flying
• Aerotech FMS, COLORS Network, Aerosource and Orient Flight School joins hands with the Colors WE! Women Empower Expedition, which strongly believes in the philosophy that “When you give a Woman wings, the whole flock flies.”
• The WE! Expedition will fly across 22 countries, covering 50000 km in 86 sorties taking the message of women empowerment via a crowd funding campaign called `WE! Udaan Scholarship’ to support under-privileged girls living in the regional connectivity Udan centres who want to learn and earn from flying.
• India’s first Muslim lady pilot and Hyderabadi girl, the hijab wearing Syeda Salva Fatima, who conquered poverty thanks to philanthropist Zahid Ali Khan to earn her wings, is Ambassador of the WE! Udaan Scholarship
Hyderabad, March 9, 2018: . Is there anything more liberating than flight? This is truly a women’s day for women empowerment benchmark with women coming together to give flight to other women of India. A story of true empowerment in action and deed, to prove that, indeed, the sky has no borders, boundaries or glass ceilings.
At Wings India 2018, Aerotech FMS, India’s top notch flight management company is proud to showcase `MAHI’ a little plane with a lot of pluck – the Sinus 912 motor-glider which will circumnavigate Planet Earth with an all women civilian crew for women empowerment.
The COLORS ‘WE! Women Empower’ Expedition, conceived and managed by Social Access Communications, a not for profit communication firm, will be India’s first-of-its-kind, never before done, circumnavigation of the Planet by an all women civilian crew in a plane weighing less than 500 kg. The feat already termed as an extraordinary attempt of exemplary courage, mental agility, and an aerosport adventure, will attempt a World Record.
Enabling this extraordinary feat is MAHI — the Sinus 912 motor glider – which will fly across 22 countries taking the message of women empowerment, and spear-head a unique crowd-funding campaign – the `WE! Udaan Scholarship’ to champion, enable and empower under-privileged Indian girls living in the Udan regional connectivity centres who want to learn and earn from flying.
The WE! Expedition thus truly symbolizes the true spirit of Beti Padhao Beti Bachao by creating educational opportunities with financial support for under-privileged daughters of India who dream of flying. To this effect, no story of grit, determination and empowerment inspires as does the story of Syeda Salva Fatima. Daughter of a poverty stricken bakery worker from an impoverished neighbourhood of Sultan Shahi in the old city of Hyderabad. Who is today one of India’s first four hijab wearing Muslim Woman to hold a Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL). Fatima’s story of `I want to be a pilot’ changed into reality despite many odds to attain her life’s ambition. Finding a mentor to support her dream in Zahid Ali Khan, Editor of Siasat, who along with other philanthropists helped Fatima enroll at the Andhra Pradesh Aviation Academy in 2007. Five years later, Fatima completed her training at the Aviation Academy, logging 200 hours of flying in the Cessna 152 aircraft and 123 hours of solo flight.
Moved by her story of purposeful goal and persistence, the Telangana government announced financial assistance of Rs 36 lakh for Fatima’s multi-engine training and type-rating. Dogged by odds repeatedly, Fatima persisted in her training obtaining her Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL) in 2013. Followed by simulator training in New Zealand, and type-rating on Airbus training at the Gulf Aviation Academy in Bahrain.
“Have a clear goal and positive thinking. Dedication and hard work don’t go to waste,” is Fatima’s message to girls with dreams like her. Hence making Salva Fatima the ideal inspirational Ambassador of WE! Udaan Scholarship -the WE! Women Empower crowd funding platform which aims to support deserving Indian girls across 110 cities and towns with an opportunity to enroll in aviation training.
Commending this extraordinary expedition and extending her whole-hearted support is Ms Maneka Sanjay Gandhi, Hon. Minister Women and Child Development, Govt of India, New Delhi. Expressing India’s forward march towards empowering women with the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao countrywide initiative, Ms Gandhi said, “ As our Prime Minister’s Udan program gets underway, several smaller towns will now get air connectivity, hence opening up opportunities to India’s young girls. How many of them have dreams of flying? Yet, how many of them can afford to get a flying license? Flight is one of the best symbols of liberation and I am happy to say that Indian women have demonstrated that there is no glass ceiling in the sky, time and time again. As many as 11% of our pilots are women, while a country like the US has only 3%. In the Indian Air Force, our girls are already accepted in the cockpit. Endurance flying requires presence of mind, quick decision making, mental strength and impeccable communication – all of which are qualities that would stand our daughters in good stead as they take on the challenges of life. I urge all of India to extend their whole-hearted support to the WE! Expedition and contribute generously to the “WE! Udaan Scholarship fund,” Ms Gandhi emphasized.
Speaking on the occasion Director, Aerotech FMS, Mr Amit Nath, flight planning and ground partner to the Colors WE! Women Empower Expedition, said, “A mission of this nature is not just an adventure in the sky, but also one on the ground, requiring indepth knowledge of the highly regulated aviation sector to maintain the highest standards of safety while at the same time encouraging the spirit of adventure and desire to step out of comfort zones among our young women and daughters”.
Selected candidates of the WE! Udaan Scholarship will have an opportunity to be trained by experts from India’s best aviation schools empanelled under the Scholarship programme, namely:
Government Flying Training School, Bengaluru
Orient Flights Aviation Academy, Mysuru
Jharkhand Flying Institute (Gliding), Ranchi Enrolment forms can be downloaded from www.wefly.org.in Track WE! Women Empower circumnavigation expedition by logging into www.wef Enrolment forms can be downloaded from www.wefly.org.in
Track WE! Women Empower circumnavigation expedition by logging into www.wefly.org.in
To show your support and give flight to India’s daughters and their dreams of flying, donate and contribute generously to the `WE! Udaan Scholarship’ at www.wefly.org.in