The first woman and the first Indian in the World to cross the Atlantic Ocean solo in a Light Sports Aircraft is 23 year old Mumbai based pilot Captain ‘Aarohi Pandit’.
She achieved the feat around midnight of May 13th and 14th when she successfully landed her tiny aircraft at Iqaluit Airport in Canada, after a breathtaking 3,000 km long flight, under adverse and extreme weather the conditions the following take-off from Wick, Scotland (United Kingdom), with a brief stopover in Greenland and Iceland.
Along with this expedition, she set another world record being the first woman pilot to fly the aircraft solo above the dangerous Greenland ice-cap in a Light Sports Aircraft and is due for covering about 6 other records by the time she reached to India.
During the expedition a Light Sports Aircraft “Mahi” a single-engine Sinus 912 was used by Arohi Pandit, which weighs about 400 kg or equivalent to the weight of a Bullet Motorcycle. The aircraft was manufactured by ‘Pipistrel’ in Slovenia. It is also the first Light Sports Aircraft which is registered by the ‘Directorate General of Civil Aviation of India’ (DGCA).
During the whole expedition, she flew her Light Sports Aircraft ‘Mahi’ over the states of India i.e. Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and then to Pakistan, where she landed. Landing in Pakistan makes it the first civilian Light Sports Aircraft flight to be landed in the neighboring country since 1947. After this, she crossed Iran, Turkey, Serbia, Slovenia, Germany, France, and the UK during the complete expedition.
After landing in Iqaluit in Canada, Aarohi Pandit exhibited the Indian tri-color very proudly, which was presented to her by the Indian Ambassador to Canada ‘Vikas Swarup’. Her expedition was organized and sponsored by a non-profit communication firm ‘Social Access’.
