Michael A. Chowdry (1954 - January 24, 2001) was a

Pakistani-American Pakistani Americans () are citizens of the United States who have full or partial ancestry from Pakistan, or more simply, Pakistanis in America. They can be from different ethnic groups in Pakistan like Punjabis, Punjabi or Muhajir people, Muhaj ...

businessman who became the founder of American-based cargo carrier

Atlas Air Atlas Air, Inc. is a major American cargo airline, charter airline, passenger charter airline, and Aircraft lease, aircraft lessor based in White Plains, New York. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings. Atlas Air is t ...

in 1992. He was on the

Forbes 400 The ''Forbes'' 400 or 400 Richest Americans is a list published by ''Forbes'' magazine of the wealthiest 400 American citizens who own assets in the U.S., ranked by net worth. The 400 was started by Malcolm Forbes in 1982 and the list is ...

list with a net worth of $920 million, ranked among the richest American businessmen of Pakistani heritage before his death in a plane crash in 2001.

Early life and education

Born in

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

in a Muslim Punjabi family, Chowdry emigrated to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

aged 15. He was a son of Chowdry Ghais Akbar Buttar, a retired army officer and grandson of Chowdry Mohammad Akbar Buttar; a government bureaucrat. In 1976, he moved to the United States where he graduated from the

University of Minnesota Crookston The University of Minnesota Crookston (UMN–Crookston) is a public college in Crookston, Minnesota, United States. One of five campuses in the University of Minnesota system, UMN Crookston had a fall 2022 enrollment of 1,489 undergraduate stu ...

in 1978 with a degree in Agricultural Aviation. He started his aviation career flying crop dusters and selling Piper airplanes to cover his college tuition. He gave flying lessons to farmers, and also worked under a government contract flying Native Americans to the

Mayo Clinic Mayo Clinic () is a Nonprofit organization, private American Academic health science centre, academic Medical centers in the United States, medical center focused on integrated health care, healthcare, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science ...

from reservations in the midwest.

Career

Chowdry expanded his business into buying and selling landing rights at constrained airports in the early 1980s. In 1984, he started a company named Aeronautics Leasing, which leased passenger airplanes to major carriers such as Pan American,

British Airways British Airways plc (BA) is the flag carrier of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main Airline hub, hub at Heathrow Airport. The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and pass ...

and

Trans World Airlines Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major airline in the United States that operated from 1930 until it was acquired by American Airlines in 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles ...

. In 1992, Michael Chowdry founded

which is based in

Purchase, NY Purchase is a hamlet in the town of Harrison, in Westchester County, New York, United States. One myth explains that its name is derived from Harrison's purchase, where John Harrison was to be granted as much land as he could ride in one day. ...

, valued around $ 1.39 billion, operates B747s in 46 countries and 101 cities. By 1993, Atlas Air was flying routes to Taipei and Europe, and the company went public in 1997.

Plane crash

On January 24, 2001, Michael Chowdry died while flying his personal

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

-made

Aero L-39 Albatros The Aero L-39 Albatros is a high-performance jet trainer designed and produced by Aero Vodochody in the Czech Republic. In addition to performing basic and advanced pilot training, it has also flown combat missions in a light-attack role. Desp ...

jet trainer with Jeff Cole, aerospace editor of the ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

''. The crash occurred in

Watkins, Colorado Watkins (also called Box Elder) is an unincorporated town and a census-designated place (CDP) located in and governed by Arapahoe and Adams counties, Colorado, United States. The CDP is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan ...

, killing both Chowdry and Cole. He was survived by his wife and four children."Forbes Faces: Michael Chowdry"
Forbes, 01-25-2001 His wife Linda in 2021 published the memoir ''No Man's Son - A Flight from Obscurity to Fame'' about her late husband."Friday Harbor Author Shares the Highs and Lows of Aviation in 'No Man's Son'"
San Juan Islander, 2001

References

External links

Chowdry, Michael on Forbes 400

Introducing the Michael A. Chowdry $5,000 Entrepreneurial Scholarships

1955 births 2001 deaths American people of Punjabi descent Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in the United States Pakistani expatriates in England Pakistani emigrants to the United States American transportation businesspeople University of Minnesota Crookston alumni Accidental deaths in Colorado American billionaires Pakistani billionaires Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 2001 Businesspeople from Lahore {{Pakistan-business-bio-stub