100 rescue missions in a week: Nepal’s first woman helicopter captain keeps flying

Nepal’s first woman helicopter captain, Priya Adhikari, has flown around 100 rescue missions in less than a week, helping evacuate survivors from some of the country’s worst flood-hit areas as floods and mudslides have killed more than 1,000 people across Nepal and Tibet.

According to a report by CNN, the 40-year-old pilot has been flying almost continuously over Timure village in Rasuwa district, where around 20 helicopters are involved in rescue operations and scores of people remain missing.

According to the report, five or six helicopters sometimes land at the same site at once, with pilots coordinating constantly over the radio. Thick mud makes landing hazardous, forcing pilots to keep their helicopters powered throughout the operation.

“Most of us are so exhausted because of all the flights we’ve been doing. We’ve been trained for this,” Adhikari told CNN’s Anderson Cooper.

For Adhikari, the missions are the latest test of years spent flying in some of the world’s most challenging terrain. She specialises in high-altitude rescue operations and has rescued injured climbers from Mount Everest, flying at altitudes of up to about 6,200 metres.

Yet amid the exhaustion and devastation, she said seeing survivors still gives her reason to smile.

“Every time I go and land I see people around and waving at them. I say, you survived,” she told CNN.

Adhikari began her career far from the cockpit. After studying environmental science and working as cabin crew, a helicopter joyride inspired her to pursue aviation. She later trained in the Philippines before becoming a full-time helicopter pilot in 2017.

She went on to become Nepal’s first woman helicopter captain, despite early scepticism about women entering a profession long dominated by men.

Now, after years of high-altitude rescue flying, Adhikari says the scale of the current disaster has tested even her experience. She described the floods as more devastating than Nepal’s 2015 earthquake.

“They are not my relatives,” she said of the people she rescues. “But when you see people and bodies from above, you carry those emotions with you.”