The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said media reports that Adam Harry, a transman from Kerala — has been denied permission by the regulator to get a commercial pilot license were not true.
New Delhi: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Wednesday, 12 July, requested India’s first transgender trainee-pilot Adam Harry to submit a new application for medical assessment.This comes two years after he was declared “unfit to fly” due to hormone therapy.
In a press release, the DGCA said that there are “no restrictions on transgender people to obtain pilot’s licence and ratings.” But added that it was subject to certain requirements such as “age, educational qualifications, medical fitness, knowledge, experience etc.”
In 2020, Harry, who identifies as a transgender man, received the Kerala government’s support to undergo training and become a commercial pilot. He took a medical test in the same year to join the course, but the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) denied him permission citing that he is “unfit to fly” due to hormone therapy.
In 2016, Harry, who is also a victim of transphobia had travelled to South Africa’s Johannesburg to pursue training at Skylark Aviation Academy to become a pilot. However, when he opened up about his gender identity on Instagram, his parents stopped supporting him financially.
He tried to complete his studies in Johannesburg while also engaging in part-time work, but he was forced to return home due to lack of support.
In Ernakulam, he took up various jobs – from food delivery to working in restaurants – to support himself. It was here he met a journalist, who covered his story and put him in touch with the Social Justice Department.
While he reached out to them to start a juice shop, the Kerala government offered him scholarship to pursue his pilot training with the Rajiv Gandhi Aviation Academy under the transgender persons’ welfare fund.
In 2020, when Harry joined the institute, he had to undergo the Class 2 medical test to be eligible for a student pilot’s license. He was forced to take the test as a female person – the gender he was assigned at birth – as DGCA’s medical examination form did not include options for non-binary genders.
