Last Updated on 5 years by INDIAN AWAAZ
WEB DESK
In another Pioneering step Indian Navy today welcomed Sub Lieutenant Shivangi, their first woman pilot taking control of an aircraft.
Just days ahead of the Indian Navy Day, Shivangi, 24, was given her wings along with her fellow pilots who earned their wings and joined the naval operations at a ceremony. The lady officer completed her basic training at the Indian Naval Academy and 2018 and was brought to Kochi, so that she could train with the Indian naval air squadron — INAS 550.
Shivangi, who is from Muzaffarpur in Bihar, after completing a mechanical engineering degree at the Sikkim Manipal University of Technology, went for her further studies at the Malaviya National Institute of Technology in Jaipur and then began her journey with the Indian Navy.
The first lady pilot of the Indian Navy will be tasked with flying Dornier aircraft, used by the navy for transport and maritime reconnaissance, and they take off and land on the shore.
These aircraft are also used in rescue missions including the medical evacuations. According to the Indian Navy, the aircraft she will be flying are used for long distances over the sea and in case of any suspicious movement in the waters or shore will keep the ship at sea informed.
In the air wing of the Indian Navy there are MIG 29-K fighter aircraft, P-8I maritime surveillance aircraft from the US based Boeing Company, and there are helicopters and Dornier aircraft. Ministry of Defence has said that out of the 735 pilots required 644 positions are already filled up.
Indian Navy permitted women to serve in medical services, air traffic control, education and training, law, and other related fields since 1992.
As the first lady pilot Shivangi has now joined the lady pilots of the Indian Air Force (IAF) which enlisted women pilots for the first time 2016 and earlier this year Flight Lieutenant Bhawana Kanth became the first woman pilot to qualify to undertake combat missions on a fighter aircraft.
By the end of this decade there will be two more lady pilots in the Indian Navy who will be flying the transport aircraft and land on the shore.