Indian women pilots to the fore

INDIA: Indian women were scheduled to be the first to fly a non- stop passenger plane from Mumbai to New York on Monday to observe the 100th International Women’s Day, the Indian newspaper the Hindustan Times reported on Sunday.

A Boeing 777-200 long-range plane was operated by two female commanders named Rashmi Miranda and Sunita Narula, while the other crews are all women, the paper quoted a Saturday’s statement by the flight’s sponsor the National Aviation Company of India Limited (NACIL), which operates Air India, as saying.

The statement said it will be the first time for the Indian women to pilot a long-distance passenger plane without stopping during the 14-hour flight.

Xinhua