Helping young women learn to fly

Flight instructor, pilot and mentor to youth Malvika Matharoo impresses right away with her forthrightness and energy.
“I have always been interested in unique things,” says Matharoo, a Petaluma resident. “That is what drove my passion to get into aviation. I had a couple of male friends who said women should not be in aviation and I felt I had to challenge their assumption.”
Born in the Punjab area of India and raised in the Middle Eastern country of Oman, Matharoo moved to the United States to attend college in North Dakota. She started out as an art major, but transferred to the University of North Dakota because she was impressed with its aviation courses.
After college, Matharoo says, “…Being an independent Indian pilot and woman trying to break down old traditions and to help other women like me, I decided I would start by inspiring kids, especially young women and girls, to dream big, dare to achieve, break the ‘glass ceiling.’”
With that end in mind, Matharoo, who works part-time at North Coast Air, Santa Rosa, started volunteering at Valley of the Moon Youth Teen Center in Sonoma. While there, she founded the Take to the Sky program to motivate young women to pursue their interests in aviation.
The Take to the Sky program gives the winner of an essay contest responding to the question, “What are your dreams, and how will you achieve them?” an opportunity to soar over the Sonoma County coastline for an introductory flight, followed by lunch with Matharoo.
Nationwide, women make up about 6 percent of the total number of pilots in the United States, or about 35,784 of the 590,349 pilots, according to the aviation Web site www.airventure.org, and Matharoo holds herself up as an example to the young women in her program.
20/08/10 Lynn Schnitzer/The Argus-Courier/petaluma360.com