Montreal: AFP |
There she discovered a passion for flying and obtained her pilot’s licence -becoming the youngest certified civilian female pilot from Afghanistan.
Now she wants to share that sense of freedom of soaring high above ground with other young women.
“When I found my passion -flying -that’s when I started to challenge myself. I started to read. I started to do better in maths. I started to look at the world differently , the sky differently ,“ Waiz said as she made a stopover in Montreal. “What’s important is finding your passion and going after it.“
Waiz took off from Daytona Beach, Florida on Saturday and has mapped out a route that will take her aboard her aircraft approximately 25,800 kilometres to more than 18 countries, including Spain, Egypt, India and Australia, before ending the trip back in Florida in August.
During her stopovers, the engineering graduate and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which is backing her trip, will host events to try to get schoolchildren interested in science -notably aeronautics. “We hope to present to the young kids at these events what those careers are… and hopefully get them to pursue these careers that are in need of more talent.“ ICAO says, less than 5% of commercial pilots are women.
Waiz says she gets her inspiration from Ohio native Jerrie Mock, who became the first woman in 1964 to complete a solo flight around the world. Waiz says Mock broke gender barriers in aviation at a time when few women were pilots.
But Mock wasn’t the first woman to try and fly around the globe. Amelia Earhart, an American aviation pioneer, broke many aviation records, including become the first woman to fly over both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. But during during her last flight in 1937, in an attempt to fly across the globe, she lost control of her plane on takeoff.
http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/index.aspx?eid=31804&dt=20170517
May 19, 2017 at 4:34 pm
The young Afghan woman should be congratulated for her achievement. She has endured al sufferings with determination and zeal and has achieved hr goal
June 6, 2017 at 11:17 am
The youngest woman to fly around the world so far is Joan Merriam Smith, an American who did so in 1964 at the age of 27. Merriam Smith’s flight was well-publicized and is unassailable, documented historical fact. Ms. Waiz is already 29. Waiz’s claim about hoping to become the youngest woman ever to fly around the world is therefore nonsense. Why is she and her “Dreams Soar” organization perpetuating it? Shame on them.