Air India pilot Zoya Agarwal becomes first female to find a place in iconic SFO Aviation Museum for flight over North Pole

Captain Zoya Agarwal, a senior Air India pilot took her place in the San Francisco-based aviation museum as the first Indian woman pilot to fly an aeroplane above the North Pole, traversing a record-breaking distance of around 16,000 kilometres. The US-based aviation museum was impressed by the achievement of all Air India's women pilots, and thus they offered a place in their museum. While talking to ANI, Captain Zoya Agarwal informed that she is the only human to have found a place as a pilot in the San Francisco Aviation Luis A Turpen Aviation museum, which is commonly known as the SFO Aviation Museum.

An all-female Flight India pilot team commanded by Zoya Agarwal flew the world's longest air route from San Francisco (SFO) in the United States to Bengaluru in India for the first time in 2021, crossing the North Pole, operating a Boeing 777.

Zoya Agarwal's reaction

"I was amazed to see that I'm the only living object over there, I am just humbled, honestly. I can't believe that I am a part of a prestigious aviation museum in the USA,'' Captain Zoya told ANI. "I can't believe that I am the first Indian female to be in a museum in the USA, if you ask the eight-year-old girl that use to sit on her terrace, looking at stars and dream about being a pilot. It's an honour that the US recognised an Indian woman for their museum... it's a great moment for me and my country," captain Zoya said.

"In addition to her remarkable career with Air India, including her record-breaking flight from SFO to Bengaluru in 2021 with an all-female crew, her positivity about the world and her commitment to helping other girls and women achieve their dreams is deeply inspiring. Being able to record and share Captain Agarwal`s personal history allows SFO Museum to preserve the excitement and the historic nature of her extraordinary career with current and future generations of aviation enthusiasts," an official from the San Francisco Aviation museum told ANI.

Captain Zoya Agarwal is one of the gender equality spokespersons at the United Nations (UN), and she has pioneered encouraging females and youth to fulfil their dreams. The museum was launched at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) in 1980, utilising little more than images on walls as a means to beautify and humanise the Airport`s environment.

Since then, it has grown into a dynamic exhibition program with galleries throughout all five terminals and developed an ever-growing collection of objects, now numbering more than 150,000, related to the history of SFO and commercial aviation. Meanwhile, the participation of women pilots in India has increased rapidly, according to the International Society of Women Airlines, India holds the largest proportion of female pilots in the world. Accounting for around 12.4 per cent of all pilots, compared to 5.5 per cent in the US.

(With inputs from ANI)