A QAZAQ AIR airplane made a historic flight: the crew of the De-Havilland Dash 8-Q400 aircraft consisted entirely of women. Under the control of the commander Yekaterina Sverchkova and co-pilot Azhar Nesipbaeva, the airliner performed two sectors of flight on the routes Astana – Petropavlovsk – Astana and Astana – Omsk – Astana. The aircraft commander, co-pilot and 2 flight attendants – the whole crew consisted of 4 women.
Co-pilot Azhar Nesipbayeva wrote on her Instagram page that there are no gender differences in the cockpit. ” I mean, there is a commander, there is a co-pilot. Everyone fulfills their duties and knows their job. Yesterday we were so pretty and happily working. We amazed everyone around us and had a very soulful another working day,” she shared her emotions and some beautiful photos.
The first female pilot of QAZAQ AIR Yekaterina Sverchkova joined the airline in 2018, when she was only 21 years old. She has enough experience and qualifications under her belt. Yekaterina made her first independent flight at the wheel of an airplane when she was only 16 years old.
“My love for aviation sprouted through parachuting, I gave 6 years to this field. That is where I got to know aviation and airplanes better. I just decided to try myself as a private pilot, and that’s how my passion for civil aviation came about,” she recalls.
According to Yekaterina, she has never encountered gender stereotypes in aviation: “I am lucky to have such good colleagues. Everyone treats each other in a friendly way. I’ve never heard any jokes or teasing.
She also added that pilots have a challenging schedule. In her free time, she recuperates, gets enough sleep, practises yoga and likes to walk along the promenade in the summer evenings