Advised to delay marriage, pregnancy plans: 5 things to know about India's woman fighter jet pilot
In October 2015, the Centre had decided to put an end to the long-drawn gender battle over opening the role of fighter pilots to women. The process, involving rigorous training, took a little more than two years and on February 19, flying officer Avani Chaturvedi became the first woman pilot of the Indian Air Force to fly the MiG-21 Bison fighter aircraft solo, in the Jamnagar sky.
Bison, with a speed of 340 kmph, has the highest landing and take-off speed in the world.
Here are five things to know about 24-year-old Avani Chaturvedi:
Avani puts India on par with US, Britain
With Avani, India joins the ranks of the United States, China, France, Turkey, Greece, the UK and Pakistan; all of them have women fighter jet pilots. The former Soviet Union was the pioneer, deploying a significant number of all-women fighting crews during the World War II. It also had the highest number of women casualties in combat. While the United States and the United Kingdom got their first women fighter pilots in 1993 and 1994 respectively, China and Pakistan broke the glass ceiling in 2013.
Engineer-turned-pilot
Before joining the Hyderabad Air Force Academy, Avani completed her B Tech in Computer Science from Banasthali University, Jaipur. She was born in Madhya Pradesh's Satna and completed her schooling from Adarsh Higher Secondary School, Rewa. Her brother, who served in the Army, inspired her to join the IAF. Her first tryst with flying happened quite early, at the flying club of her college. She has interests in chess, table tennis and sketching.
Flying the Mig-21
Trainee fighter pilots have to undertake a series of sorties where he or she is taught various techniques of take-off and landing. Then they graduate to solo sorties. Before MiG-21 Bison, Avani took solo flights in easier-to-handle aircraft like Pilatus PC-7 turboprops, Kiran and Hawk jet trainers. After this, Avani will be taught maneuvering, air-to-air, air-to-ground combat techniques.
With these, day combat training will be over, making way to night-combat training.
Three's company
Avani was one of the three women who were formally commissioned into the IAF by former defence minister Manohar Parrikar. The other two women, Mohana Singh and Bhawana Kanth, are also undergoing the training and will soon fly fighter planes.
Advised to delay marriage and pregnancy
There was a time when the then IAF chief Arup Raha had said that women were not physically fit for flying fighter jets. There were operational concerns which still deter women to join combat roles in the Army and the Navy. The decision to open the combat role in the IAF for women came with a rider; it was on “an experimental basis” for five years initially. Training a fighting jet pilot costs around Rs 15 crore. Before the trio joined the force, there were concerns over women officers deciding to leave the role after undergoing the expensive training.
Pregnancy requires to a two-year break from the service, and fresh training upon resuming work. Avani, Mohana and Bhawana were advised to delay marriage and pregnancy plans, if any.
The next batch of women officers has already been inducted. Pilots Pratibha and Shivangi have completed their basic flying training, while the third, Rashi Raina, was injured during training near Hyderabad.
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