SOARING HIGH
Mumbai pilots Aarohi Pandit and Keithair Misquitta are set to create a record by circumnavigating the earth in an ultralight plane
As students at the Bombay Flying Club, Aarohi Pandit, 22 and Keithair Misquitta, 24 flew over Mumbai’s Arabian Sea several times but soaring across the turbulent North Atlantic Ocean in a motor glider was an experience they hadn’t prepared for. “The weather changed every one hour, it was so unpredictable,” says Pandit, who is the first Indian woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. They have become the first two women pilots to fly from India to Greenland in a light sports aircraft, and in this case, while flying solo over the North Atlantic Ocean, Pandit had only her life raft and emergency equipment for company. “That was the most challenging part
because until then we had flown together,” she says. In August, they set off on an expedition to circumnavigate the earth in a light motor glider as part of the WE! Women Empower Expedition. In 51 days, they did 27 landings in 17 different countries and flew 12,000 nautical miles battling weather, difficult terrains and permissions.
The journey from India to Scotland via Karachi and Iran threw up several challenges and numerous firsts. They created a record by landing a light sport aircraft from India in Karachi, flying over high mountain peaks and rough weather over oceans. If Iran came with tough terrain and 9,000 ft high mountain ranges, the Atlantic Ocean was the biggest challenge. “Over land, you at least have a landmark but over water, there is none,” says Pandit. What offset the challenges was the warmth that people showered on them in every country.
Their aircraft Mahi, which stands for planet earth in Sanskrit, is the only LSA (light sport aircraft) registered in India and is a Sinus 912 which was originally used by Slovenian pilot Matevž Lenarcic for the first solo circumnavigation in an ultralight plane.
Misquitta says that convincing their families wasn’t easy but seeing their excitement of making a new record, they relented. “Some legs of the journey were challenging. There were days when we took off and returned because it was raining heavily along our route,” she says. From eastern Europe, the pilots flew to England, Scotland and Greenland but had to park in Iceland. With the winter setting in early this year, their expedition is on hold for now. As soon as the sun comes out, they will be off to complete the next leg of the journey around the world.