Up where she belongs!

 

“I was nine years old when I decided I wanted to fly. But back then, I didn’t realise the hard work I’d have to put in!” laughs Tisha Jhaveri. Looking at her now, you know the hard work eventually paid off. Tisha, a commercial pilot, flies with the newly launched GO Air and enjoys the ‘wings’ her job gives her.   

 

Tisha’s is not a typical job and that reflects in her daily schedule. “I fly across all routes, in the mornings and evenings. So I have to plan my day around flight schedules,” she reveals. Yet she manages to do both with equal ease. Sample this - despite her crazy flying hours, she catches up on reading, takes time out to exercise, meditates and even chills with her friends twice or thrice a week.

 

According to her, being a pilot is not easy. There’s a lot of preparation that goes into it. “Yes, the thrill of flying is out of this world, but it’s not all fun or as glamourous as it appears.” Flying is an ongoing process that requires pilots to keep themselves constantly updated. Renewals are conducted every six months while technical exams happen every year. “You’re constantly learning, constantly studying,” she adds in.

 

Tisha took to the skies nearly six-and-a-half years ago, in 1999, after training in a flying school in Melbourne, Australia. “Honestly, I don’t remember what I felt when I flew for the first time,” she confesses. However, her first two years with Alliance Air, flying a Boeing jet, were simply amazing.

 

“Being one of only two girls in my class, not too many people were confident I’d be able to pull it off,” she remembers. “When I flew the Gujarat sector, it was the older women who were thrilled that I was a pilot and encouraged me and my male colleagues have always been supportive. But it’s my social circle that tends to be a little cynical,” reveals Tisha. But that hasn’t stopped her from doing what she does best. And yes, the Tom Cruise-starrer ‘Top Gun’ is her favourite flying movie!