Anyone’s first flight has the potential to be a profound one. For the 14-year-old Arpinder Kaur, Best Online Casino Games 2024 flight from India to the United States evoked Best Online Casino Games 2024 desire to be a pilot.

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This being Best Online Casino Games 2024 very first time to see a plane, let alone fly on one, Arpinder the “tomboy” said yes.

“I went in and sat in the jump seat,” says Arpinder. “I was just mesmerized. The uniforms, the view, just everything in the cockpit told me, okay, this is what I want to do when I grow up.”

That flight represented the start of a new life for Best Online Casino Games 2024 family. Growing up in India, Arpinder says she felt the opportunity to be whatever she wanted to be waited for Best Online Casino Games 2024 in the U.S.

A slight diversion

However, the dream to become a pilot was set into a holding pattern. Arpinder’s parents urged Best Online Casino Games 2024 to pursue a degree plan in Information Technology at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.

Arpinder cruised through Best Online Casino Games 2024 studies and graduated in 2002. The very next day, Best Online Casino Games 2024 boyfriend, Pritpal Singh, proposed marriage. The only caveat; she had to move with him to his home state of Kansas.

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Best Online Casino Games 2024 husband and his family have always valued education over everything, and supported Arpinder when she decided to go to aviation school. She immediately began with Best Online Casino Games 2024 discovery flight in Manassas, Virginia and then completed the rest of Best Online Casino Games 2024 pilot licenses at Air Associates of Kansas in Olathe, Kansas.

After three years in Kansas, Arpinder and Best Online Casino Games 2024 family moved to San Antonio, Texas to explore new career opportunities. Arpinder climbed the next rung in Best Online Casino Games 2024 aviation career becoming a flight instructor at Wright Flyers Aviation.

She was well on Best Online Casino Games 2024 way to fulfilling Best Online Casino Games 2024 dream of becoming a commercial pilot when Best Online Casino Games 2024 close friend, Kulbir Singh Sandhu, who worked with American Airlines recommended that Arpinder interview with their regional partner American Eagle (now Envoy).

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Women in Aviation

Women make up just over six percent of commercial pilots in the U.S., according to the Federal Aviation Administration’s 2015 Active Civil Airmen Statistics. So, as rare as a female pilot is, Arpinder is like feathers on an elephant.

She’s the first female Sikh pilot in the U.S. and the first Sikh pilot of any gender to wear a turban on the flight deck. For this opportunity, Arpinder commends American Eagle/Envoy for evaluating Best Online Casino Games 2024 request and recognizing Best Online Casino Games 2024 religious right to wear Best Online Casino Games 2024 turban, or dastaar as they are called by Sikhs.

Setting this precedent has pushed Arpinder into the spotlight where she’s earned well-deserved press coverage acknowledging Best Online Casino Games 2024 achievement as a woman and as a Sikh pilot in the U.S. She even represented Sikh Americans in the 2015 Rose Parade in Pasadena, California on their first ever float commemorating more than 125 years of Sikh history in America.

Arpinder says she feels a sense of responsibility as the first turban-wearing Sikh pilot. It is important to Best Online Casino Games 2024 to help other Sikhs realize they can take on any challenge and hold any position in the U.S. with or without their turban.

More importantly, Arpinder says Best Online Casino Games 2024 is responsible for teaching young girls the importance of following their dream regardless of gender roles.

“My main thing is to tell them, you are able to do what boys are able to do,” says Arpinder. “We have so many strengths. We’re capable of so many things. I tell them to pursue those dreams, because you’re able to become what you want to become.”

Anything is possible

Thankfully, Arpinder followed Best Online Casino Games 2024 own advice and is now an Envoy Captain on the E145. She says Best Online Casino Games 2024 favorite part about Best Online Casino Games 2024 job is during the holidays when she sees the smiles of passengers reaching their destinations safely.

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As a Sikh woman, Arpinder chooses to wear the dastaar. Best Online Casino Games 2024 believes that Sikhism, which has no pronouns in their literature, unifies men and women as followers of the religion.

You could say the turban is a perfect analogy for Arpinder following Best Online Casino Games 2024 dream of aviation. As a pilot, the unifying component is bringing people home safely and the love for flying. There are no gender constraints on these principles.

“This turban is a symbol for my career path,” says Arpinder. “That’s why I am so thankful to [Envoy] for giving me that accommodation so I am able to get this out there in the community, and tell girls that anything is possible.”