PinkyGul Heroines
Flight Lieutenant Ayesha Farooq is a Pakistani fighter pilot from Qaimpur, Bahawalpur District, who is the first woman to become a fighter pilot in the Pakistan Air Force. In 2013, she became the first and only Pakistani female fighter pilot after topping the final exams to qualify. She now flies missions in a Chinese-made Chengdu J-7 fighter jet alongside her 24 male colleagues in Squadron 20.
At 31 years of age, Ayesha Farooq says about working in a male-dominated profession, “I don’t feel any different. We do the same activities, the same precision bombing.”
She was previously posted at Mushaf base in north Pakistan, where neatly piled warheads sit in sweltering 50 degree Celsius heat. The physical training one undergoes at flight school involves waking up at 4.30 am every morning for a mile-long run before starting the day. Moreover, one has to carry an MG3, a machine gun, which weighs about four kilograms, for two hours.
“Because of terrorism and our geographical location it’s very important that we stay on our toes,” said Farooq, in a previous interview.
“In our society, most girls don’t even think about doing such things as flying an aircraft,” she said.
“My mother raised me to be strong, to a point that if one day, I was left alone, I would be able to take care of myself,” she said while addressing a crowd at Aga Khan University in Karachi, adding that her achievement comes as a consequence of her mother’s support.
“If war breaks out, I will be flying on my senior’s wing as his wingman, well, wingwoman,” she said in an interview with The Daily Telegraph at the headquarters of PAF in Islamabad.
“I want to prove myself, to show that I’m doing something for my country,” she said.
PinkyGul Heroines
Flight Lieutenant Ayesha Farooq is a Pakistani fighter pilot from Qaimpur, Bahawalpur District, who is the first woman to become a fighter pilot in the Pakistan Air Force. In 2013, she became the first and only Pakistani female fighter pilot after topping the final exams to qualify. She now flies missions in a Chinese-made Chengdu J-7 fighter jet alongside her 24 male colleagues in Squadron 20.
At 31 years of age, Ayesha Farooq says about working in a male-dominated profession, “I don’t feel any different. We do the same activities, the same precision bombing.”
She was previously posted at Mushaf base in north Pakistan, where neatly piled warheads sit in sweltering 50 degree Celsius heat. The physical training one undergoes at flight school involves waking up at 4.30 am every morning for a mile-long run before starting the day. Moreover, one has to carry an MG3, a machine gun, which weighs about four kilograms, for two hours.
“Because of terrorism and our geographical location it’s very important that we stay on our toes,” said Farooq, in a previous interview.
“In our society, most girls don’t even think about doing such things as flying an aircraft,” she said.
“My mother raised me to be strong, to a point that if one day, I was left alone, I would be able to take care of myself,” she said while addressing a crowd at Aga Khan University in Karachi, adding that her achievement comes as a consequence of her mother’s support.
“If war breaks out, I will be flying on my senior’s wing as his wingman, well, wingwoman,” she said in an interview with The Daily Telegraph at the headquarters of PAF in Islamabad.
“I want to prove myself, to show that I’m doing something for my country,” she said.