On Monday, she created history. Flying Officer Avani Chaturvedi did this by becoming the first Indian woman to fly a fighter aircraft solo.
From IAF’s Jamnagar base, she did this by flying a MiG-21 “Bison”, which has virtually the highest landing and take-off speed in the world – 340 kmph. Before the “Bison”, she had only undertaken solo sorties in aircraft like the Pilatus PC-7 turboprops, Kiran and Hawk jet trainers. All these were much easier to handle.
Around one year ago, the government decided to open the fighter stream for women on an experimental basis. Three women pilots, Ms Chaturvedi, Ms Mohana Singh and Ms Bhawana Kanth had undergone strenuous training to fly fighter jets.
India Air Force has also selected the next batch of women trainees and these women pilots will also soon come in the fighter stream.