Sub-Lieutenant Shivangi of the Indian Navy on December 2 became the first naval female pilot and joined operational duties in the presence of top officers at the Kochi base.

“It is a very proud feeling for me. It is a different feeling... being the Navy’s first woman pilot,” Shivangi said. “Women were always there in the Navy. They were not in the cockpit, but were just observers.”

Her being the first to be a pilot in the Navy “would create more opportunities for other women who want to join the force,” she said.

Fulfilling her long-cherished dream, she received her “qualification wings” from the chief of Southern Naval Command Vice-Admiral A.K. Chawla.

Hailing from Muzaffarpur in Bihar, Shivangi will be flying the Navy’s Dornier surveillance aircraft.

As part of her training, Shivangi has flown the Pilatus PC-7 Mk II and the basic trainer at Air Force Academy and completed the Dornier conversion course with the Navy in Kochi.

She will continue her training at the Indian Naval Air Squadron 550, the Dornier squadron at INS Garuda, Kochi, to become a fully operational pilot on reconnaissance aircraft.

According to Shivangi, she started dreaming of becoming a pilot ever since she saw a chopper landing in the neighbourhood of her grandparents’ place during her childhood.

She recalled that everyone in the area had gathered around to see the helicopter and she was one among them. She got “super inspired” when she saw the helicopter and the pilot. She said her family is supportive and they never questioned her wish to join the defence forces.

Along with her, two trainee officers of the 7th Dornier Conversion Course (DOCC) also qualified as Dornier pilots and were awarded the coveted golden wings at the ceremony.

Vice-Admiral Chawla presented the wings, signifying their qualification as naval aviators.

First female fighter pilot of the Air Force

Flight Lieutenant Bhawana Kanth on May 22 became the first female pilot of the Indian Air Force to qualify to undertake combat missions on a fighter jet. IAF officials said she has completed operational syllabus for carrying out combat missions on Mig-21 Bison aircraft during daytime.

Bhawana joined the fighter squadron in November 2017 and flew the first solo on MiG-21 Bison in March last year. She is from the first batch of female fighter pilots of the IAF.

Three women - Kanth, Avani Chaturvedi and Mohana Singh - were commissioned as flying officers in July 2016, less than a year after the government decided to open the fighter stream for women on an experimental basis.

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