Sub-lieutenant Shivangi:  India Navy’s First Woman Pilot

The Indian Navy got its first woman pilot (a front-line combat role) as ‘Sub-Lieutenant Shivangi’ completed her operational training in Kochi, Kerala. She received her ‘golden wings’ from Vice Admiral AK Chawla, and will fly the Naval Dornier surveillance aircraft.

Key Highlights

A batch of 3 trainee officers of 7th Dornier Conversion Course (DOCC) including a lady officer qualified as Dornier pilots and were awarded Golden ‘Wings’ at a ceremony held at INS Garuda. Vice Admiral, the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief (FOC-in-C), Southern Naval Command was Chief Guest for ceremony who presented ‘Wings’ to passing out officers, signifying their qualification as naval aviators. Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief (FOC-in-C), South Rolling Trophy for standing 1st in overall order of merit was awarded to Lieutenant Shivam Pandey.

‘Wings Significance’: The award of ‘Wings’ marks culmination of 1 year of flying training at Air Force Academy (AFA), Dundigal and Indian Naval Air Squadron (INAS) 550, INS Garuda in Kochi. From here on, these pilots will join ‘Dornier Operational Flying Training’ course at INAS 550 from mid-January 2020. This will be prior to joining an operational Maritime Reconnaissance squadron.

About Sub-lieutenant Shivangi

She has created history as first woman pilot of Indian Navy, on successful graduation from the course. She is a native of Muzaffarpur, Bihar. She was inducted into Indian Navy under Short Service Commission (SSC)-Pilot entry scheme and was commissioned into the Navy in June 2018. She was part of 27th Naval orientation course (NOC) at Indian Naval Academy, Ezhimala. As part of her training, She has flown Pilatus PC 7 MkII, Basic Trainer at Air Force Academy (AFA) as well as completed Dornier Conversion with Indian Navy at Kochi. To become a fully operational pilot on Maritime Reconnaissance (MR) aircraft, she will continue her training at INAS 550, which is the Dornier squadron at INS Garuda.

Month: Current Affairs - December, 2019