India’s first women fighter-pilots get airborne

8 years ago

Image courtesy: Indiatoday

The Indian Air Force has inducted its first batch of women pilots into its fighter squadron on Saturday. After the passing-out parade at Air Foce Academy at Hakimpet in Hyderabad, these three women champs – Avani Chaturvedi, Mohana Singh and Bhawana Kanth are taking charge as IAF pilots on Monday.

The three of them cleared the first stage of training and have about 150 hours of flying currently. The trio will now go to Bidar in Karnataka for their stage-III training on the Advanced Jet Fighter – the British-built Hawk for six months before they are clear to fly supersonic warplanes.

In October last year, the central government had given nod for IAF’s plan to induct women as fighter pilots on an experimental basis for five years. Six cadets were competing for the same. However only three among the five made it to the final list.

Avani Chaturvedi

She was born in Satna in Madhya Pradesh. She completed her schooling from Adarsh School in Rewa and BTech in Computer Science from Banasthali University in Jaipur. This is how she explains the intensity of training that she underwent in the IAF Acedemy in Hakimpet.

“As I started rolling for take- off near the first marker, I heard the Canopy Warning Audio…I got confused seeing the emerging situation. However, the training which I had undergone helped me reach the decision almost immediately, as I aborted the take-off, bringing the aircraft to a halt safely on the runway. That day I realized how the decision of a split second can bring the situation under control or out of control. Had I delayed aborting the take-off or got airborne with the canopy open, the results could have been catastrophic,” Avani was quoted by The New Indian Express.

Mohana Singh

After completing her BTech in electronics and communication from Global Institute of Management and Emerging Technologies she joined the IAF. Her father is a serving IAF personnel and her grandfather was a flight gunner at Aviation Research Center.

“I wanted to carry on the family legacy of serving the nation by being in defence and what better way than fighter-flying…I dream of being a part of future combat missions, and fight for the nation when duty calls,” Mohana was quoted by The Times of India.

Bhawana Kanth

Bhawana was born in Begusarai in Bihar and completed her schooling from Barauni Refinery DAV Public School and engineering in Medical Electronics from BMS College of Engineering, Bangalore. Her father is an employee of Indian Oil Corporation.

This is how she recalls her first solo spin at an altitude of 20,000 feet during her flight training.

“I told myself that if I don’t do it now, I will always be afraid of it. I spun the aircraft and to my surprise, the spin was more vicious or so it seemed. But the fighter pilot in me took over and all the recovery actions grilled in us during the training came out correctly and promptly. The aircraft recovered from the spin and so did my confidence.”

Way to go girls!