Indian youngest woman commander of Boeing 777
Captain Anny Divya, 30, has become the youngest woman commander to fly a Boeing 777. Born in Pathankot, Divya shifted to Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, when she was a kid. Her father is a retired Army officer.
Talking to ANI, Captain Divya said she is elated and gives all the credit to her parents. “I am thankful to my parents and teachers for what I am today,” she said.
She added that no journey is complete without obstacles and she had her share of ups and downs along the way. “I had issues like financial problems, language barrier and cultural differences that I overcame with the support of my family and friends,” she said.
She further said that she belonged to a middle class family and the fee for pilot courses were very high that time. “My parents really believed in my goal and let me fly. There were no jobs at the time, so it's not like the money my parents were putting in was something that I could earn later,” she said.
Besides these obstacles, she said, a lot of people discouraged her.
“Nobody was doing any pilot course in Vijayawada that time. So I was not encouraged to do it by a lot of people around me. But I just wanted to fly,” she said.
She added that one of her biggest obstacles was speaking in English language. She said that as in Vijayawada nobody spoke in English, she was not very good at it.
She said, “I was not good with the English language. Although we did read and write in English, we mostly spoke in Telugu.”
She said coming to the flying academy helped her overcome that obstacle.
“I had some issues with pronunciation which I had to overcome. I learnt through my experiences. I used to feel bad about it a lot of times, but the point is to learn,” she added.
Talking about the airline culture, she said that it is very good and they have a set of management rules that helps them in a range of issues. “My airline is very professional and I love working there,” she said. — ANI