Srinagar, JAMMU & KASHMIR :

Iram Habib (30), a resident of downtown Srinagar city, is the first and youngest woman from Srinagar to fly an aircraft. After completing her flying training from the US in 2016, Iram is now set to fly the aircraft of GoAir and IndiGo.

According to a report published by The Tribune, Iram pursued her bachelor’s in forestry from Dehradun and post graduation in forestry from the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Kashmir.

Iram’s family wanted her to pursue Ph.D. in forestry and get a government job, but she did not abandon dreaming to become a pilot.  “I pursued Ph.D. for one and a half years but left it and went to a US flight school,” she says. “I looked for things on my own and kept my dream alive,” the report quoted her as saying.

In 2016, Iram completed her training from Miami in the US and returned to India to get a commercial pilot license, but the journey was not easy.  Iram had 260 hours of flying experience from the US and got a commercial pilot license in the US and Canada on the basis of her flying hours, the report said.

According to the report Iram was supported by her father to pursue her dream, her relatives and friends would always tell her that a girl from Kashmir would never get a job as a pilot.

Iram says that it is difficult for her relatives even now to believe that she flies an aircraft. “They still can’t believe I chose this profession and got a job too,” Iram says, adding she had also trained in Bahrain and Dubai in Airbus 320, the report mentioned.

“During my training and exams everyone would be surprised to see a woman from Kashmir as a pilot, but there was no discrimination. I worked hard and got a job offer from Indigo and GoAir. I am set to join as a first officer in Indigo next month,” says Iram, The Tribune reported.

source: http://www.kashmirlife.net / Kashmir Life / Home / by KL News Network / August 28th, 2018