Transman from Kerala hopes to take flight

MUMBAI: For Adam Harry, a 23-year-old transman from Thiruvananthapuram, the dream of becoming an airline pilot got a tad closer to reality, with the Indian civil aviation regulator issuing guidelines for medical assessment of transgender pilot aspirants.

Harry, who underwent a gender reassignment surgery last year, began his flying training in Johannesburg in 2016 as a female trainee pilot. The next six years were turbulent; he embraced his identify as a transgender person only to find his family sever ties with him and the Indian aviation regulator put hurdles in his path to be a pilot. His efforts to get the government to formulate guidelines for transgender pilot aspirants finally paid off with DGCA issuing a circular on Wednesday.