Daughter co-pilots airhostess mom’s last flight
Saurabh.Sinha@timesgroup.com
New Delhi :01.08.2018
The public announcement system crackled when Air India’s Bengaluru-Mumbai flight commenced its descent on Tuesday morning.
Passengers half expected the usual information of congestion and delayed landing, but what Captain Paresh Nerurkar said from the flight deck brought tears to many eyes.
He told the flyers that the plane’s senior-most airhostess, Pooja Chinchankar, will retire on landing — after 38 years of service. And that her legacy will be carried forward by Pooja’s daughter, Ashrrita, who was with him in the cockpit as co-pilot on the Airbus A-319 to Mumbai, where the Chinchankars live.
Pooja walked down the aisle to the applause of the flyers. And when the flight landed at Mumbai airport, the Chinchankars greeted the passengers as they deboarded.
Pooja (L) and Ashrrita Chinchankar
Mom would address me as captain: AI pilot
“They were all gushing how alike we looked and wished the best for my mother’s retired life,” said an emotional Ashrrita as Pooja, 58, looked at her proudly, her lifelong dream fulfilled.
“When I joined Indian Airlines in 1980, there were only two woman pilots in the company, including Captain Saudamini Deshmukh (India’s first woman commander). Some years later, I had a daughter and I wanted her to become a pilot. During her growing years, she saw me getting ready to go to the airport in my graceful uniform of a flight crew, interacting with my colleagues and the family flying together for vacations,” Pooja said.
When Ashrrita was completing school, her mother and father, bank manager, asked her if she wanted to become a pilot. “I went to Canada for my pilot training in 2006 when India was seeing huge demand for pilots (new airlines like IndiGo, Kingfisher, Air Deccan, SpiceJet and GoAir had just started operations then). When I returned in 2008 with my commercial pilot licence, the recession had begun and there were no jobs for pilots,” Ashrrita said.
This was the time when Indian carriers had started feeling serious strain after Jet and Kingfisher’s expensive takeovers of Air Sahara and Air Deccan, respectively, and Air India-IA combine facing merger woes. The family struggled in this phase to keep Ashrrita’s licence valid.
Finally in 2016, she got a job in Air India and joined on the A-320 fleet.
Pooja, manager inflight service (senior cabin crew), wanted her daughter to do her retirement flight which was on Tuesday. In the morning, the duo operated AI 603 from Mumbai to Bangalore and then a quick turnaround back to Mumbai as AI 604. “AI is my family. I will take her legacy forward in the airline. We want AI to be the star in the sky,” said Ashrrita.
In a tweet to Ashrrita, AI said: “Our heartfelt wishes to your mother and you for this special flight when she passes the baton on to you to have the privilege of serving our passengers with dedication. The legacy lives on.”
Saurabh.Sinha@timesgroup.com
New Delhi :01.08.2018
The public announcement system crackled when Air India’s Bengaluru-Mumbai flight commenced its descent on Tuesday morning.
Passengers half expected the usual information of congestion and delayed landing, but what Captain Paresh Nerurkar said from the flight deck brought tears to many eyes.
He told the flyers that the plane’s senior-most airhostess, Pooja Chinchankar, will retire on landing — after 38 years of service. And that her legacy will be carried forward by Pooja’s daughter, Ashrrita, who was with him in the cockpit as co-pilot on the Airbus A-319 to Mumbai, where the Chinchankars live.
Pooja walked down the aisle to the applause of the flyers. And when the flight landed at Mumbai airport, the Chinchankars greeted the passengers as they deboarded.
Pooja (L) and Ashrrita Chinchankar
Mom would address me as captain: AI pilot
“They were all gushing how alike we looked and wished the best for my mother’s retired life,” said an emotional Ashrrita as Pooja, 58, looked at her proudly, her lifelong dream fulfilled.
“When I joined Indian Airlines in 1980, there were only two woman pilots in the company, including Captain Saudamini Deshmukh (India’s first woman commander). Some years later, I had a daughter and I wanted her to become a pilot. During her growing years, she saw me getting ready to go to the airport in my graceful uniform of a flight crew, interacting with my colleagues and the family flying together for vacations,” Pooja said.
When Ashrrita was completing school, her mother and father, bank manager, asked her if she wanted to become a pilot. “I went to Canada for my pilot training in 2006 when India was seeing huge demand for pilots (new airlines like IndiGo, Kingfisher, Air Deccan, SpiceJet and GoAir had just started operations then). When I returned in 2008 with my commercial pilot licence, the recession had begun and there were no jobs for pilots,” Ashrrita said.
This was the time when Indian carriers had started feeling serious strain after Jet and Kingfisher’s expensive takeovers of Air Sahara and Air Deccan, respectively, and Air India-IA combine facing merger woes. The family struggled in this phase to keep Ashrrita’s licence valid.
Finally in 2016, she got a job in Air India and joined on the A-320 fleet.
Pooja, manager inflight service (senior cabin crew), wanted her daughter to do her retirement flight which was on Tuesday. In the morning, the duo operated AI 603 from Mumbai to Bangalore and then a quick turnaround back to Mumbai as AI 604. “AI is my family. I will take her legacy forward in the airline. We want AI to be the star in the sky,” said Ashrrita.
In a tweet to Ashrrita, AI said: “Our heartfelt wishes to your mother and you for this special flight when she passes the baton on to you to have the privilege of serving our passengers with dedication. The legacy lives on.”
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