Michael A. Chowdry (1954 - January 24, 2001) was a Pakistani-American businessman who became the founder of American-based cargo carrier Atlas Air in 1992.
He was on the Forbes 400 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.
He started his aviation career flying crop dusters and selling Piper airplanes to cover his college tuition.
In 1992, Michael Chowdry founded Atlas Air which is based in Purchase, NY, valued around $ 1.39 billion, operates B747s in 46 countries and 101 cities.
[1] On January 24, 2001, Michael Chowdry died while flying his personal Czech-made Aero L-39 Albatros jet trainer with Jeff Cole, aerospace editor of the Wall Street Journal.