The deadly coronavirus cases are rapidly growing across the world. Amid this tough time, captain Swati Raval, commander of the Air India Boeing 777, earned a big round of applause from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several other ministers for airlifting 263 Indians stranded in Rome and bringing them back to Delhi amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. Swati Raval is the first woman pilot to operate a rescue flight.
Praising the Air India crew, PM Modi said in his tweet, “Extremely proud of this team of @airindiain, which has shown utmost courage and risen to the call of humanity. Their outstanding efforts are admired by several people across India. #IndiaFightsCorona.”
Among the 263 Indians, most were students. The Boeing 777 led by Captain Swati Raval and Captain Raja Chauhan got the people back to India from Rome on March 22.
Swati is no stranger to being in the news though. Back in 2010, she was part of Air India’s all-woman crew which flew Mumbai to New York. She has been flying for over 15 years. By her own admission, she wanted to be fighter pilot. But back then women were not allowed in the Air Force to fly, so she became a commercial pilot.
