When snow fell in the east, it opened up an opportunity for 10-year-old
Nina Chaudhary. With school canceled,
she hopped on a plane with her dad,
Ravi, FAA Executive Director, Regions
and Center Operations, to attend the International Women in Aviation Conference. Ravi was a speaker at the General Session on Friday morning, and Nina
was in the audience. It’s important to
him to show his daughter the women
who are serving in high-level positions,
women who are empowered, and share
connections to leaders and pathfinders
in aviation today. Women like Southwest’s Colleen Barrett and Boeing’s Donna Hrinak, who shared the stage with
Ravi. Inspiring messages like Colleen’s
and Donna’s are what he wants Nina exposed to. “We heard the pioneers today,
and there was a fiery passion there that I
want my daughter to see,” he said.
Ravi used the FAA term “NextGen”
to apply to his daughter’s future. While
most of us think of the infrastructure
needed to upgrade from radar to satellite-
based navigation, it’s a bit more person-
al for him. “NextGen and the incredible
technological changes needed to make
the safest, most efficient transportation—
we need to develop the workforce capable
of building that innovation into our en-
terprise. It’s vital that we reach out to the
younger generation for that.”
It’s evident that at 10, Nina is already
looking at career opportunities. She’s
interested in the law field, but likes the
idea of flying. Her favorite part of the
conference was the flight simulator she
flew. “The graphics were good and I felt
like I was really flying a helicopter,”
she said. Ravi, a Minnesota native and
graduate of the United States Air Force
Academy, retired after 21 years with the
U.S. Air Force flying the C- 17 Globemas-
ter. He’s been with the FAA in Wash-
ington, D.C., since December 2014. Ravi
has been around aviation long enough
to know that it offers many positive in-
fluences on today’s youth. “Aviation
attracts the kind of people I want my
daughter to be around,” he said. “Peo-
ple with an earthy way about them, but
with eyes to the sky; people who have
no tolerance for the status quo.”
—Rose Dorcey, WAI 12645
MentoRS Change lIveS
“Aviation
attracts the kind
of people I want
my daughter to
be around.”
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