New Delhi: When Indian Air Force flying officer Avani Chaturvedi landed a fighter jet on Monday morning, she also landed herself a record. She became the first Indian woman to fly a sortie – the first step to taking charge as a fighter pilot -- in a Russian-made MiG-21 fighter.
Before her history book-making 30-minute trip, she took off from Jamnagar with her instructor, who oversaw last checks and techniques and played witness to all nerves.
The solo sortie is a first milestone of any fighter pilot and this reinforces IAF commitment give a level-playing field to both genders, IAF spokesperson and fighter pilot Anupam Banerjee was quoted as saying by Indian media. “All fighter pilots are most likely to remember their first sortie. You feel powerful like a bird that has taken its first flight, Banerjee added.
#TouchTheSkyWithGlory : Fg Offr Avani Chaturvedi became the first Indian Woman to fly a fighter aircraft solo, when on 19 Feb 18 she flew a MiG-21 Bison aircraft in her first solo flight. The photo attached has been taken after her solo sortie. pic.twitter.com/nHWe4sgSmi
— Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) February 22, 2018
The MiG 21 Bison flown by Chaturvedi is the oldest in IAF’s arsenal and considered tough to pilot.
CONGRATULATIONS! Flying Officer #AvaniChaturvedi became the first Indian woman💪 to fly a fighter aircraft MiG-21 bison solo🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/wh7hE5cGQz
— Doordarshan News (@DDNewsLive) February 22, 2018
Officers Chaturvedi, Bhavana Kanth and Mohona Singh were the first women cadets to be admitted into IAF’s fighter pilot programme in 2016.
However, in spite of the laudable take-off Chaturvedi must wait before taking off those training gloves; she will train for at least two years before being deployed as a fully operational pilot.
