Indian female pilot, Captain Zoya Agarwal becomes 1st human being to get a place at SFO Aviation Museum

The first Indian female pilot to fly above the North Pole, Captain Zoya Agarwal made history by cementing her place in the SFO aviation museum on Friday. On her historic flight over the North Pole, she covered a record-breaking distance of around 16,000kms.

For the first time ever, an all-female crew of Air India led by Zoya Agarwal covered the world's longest air route from San Francisco (SFO) to Bengaluru, covering the North Pole. She is a senior Air India pilot of the Boeing 777 aircraft.

Captain Zoya Agarwal, while talking to a news agency said that she is the only human being to have made it into the San Francisco Aviation Luis A Turpen Aviation museum, also commonly known as the SFO Aviation Museum, as a pilot. She states that she was amazed to see that she was the only living object there and feels humbled by the fact.


The SFO Museum commemorated Zoya Agarwal's brilliant career in aviation and her advocacy for promoting female empowerment across the world. She has inspired millions of girls and young people to pursue their dreams.

An official from the San Francisco Aviation museum said that she is the first female Indian pilot to be included in the program. She has had a remarkable career with Air India, and she has captained the record breaking flight from SFO to Bengaluru with an all-female crew in 2021. Even her positivity and commitment to helping girls and women achieve their dreams has played a significant role.
The official also said that recording and sharing Captain Agarwal's personal history allows the SFO Museum to preserve the excitement and historicity of her extraordinary career with other aviation enthusiasts.

The SFO aviation Museum also added that it was honoured by her participation and hopes that it will educate and inspire future generations.

Captain Zoya Agarwal while speaking to ANI, also said that it is an honor to be recognised as an Indian woman, as well as a great pilot. She states that it's a great moment for her and for her country.

She has also been a pioneer in encouraging women and young people to fulfil their dreams and is one of the UN's gender equality spokespersons.

The San Francisco International Airport Museum was launched in 1980 and utilised images to commemorate the history of aviation and is making an attempt to humanise the Airport's environment. it has grown since then, into a dynamic exhibition program with galleries in all five terminals and has an ever growing collection of objects related to the history of SFO and commercial aviation. It is numbered at almost 150,000 items so far.

In the meantime, women's participation in the Indian civil aviation sector has increased rapidly in the past few years, as per the International Society of Women Airlines. India currently boasts of the largest proportion of female pilots in the world and accounts for around 12.4% of all pilots, as compared to the 5.5% in the US.