'Reaching for the skies' - Woman in Air force
Things began changing in 1991, when the Government approved the introduction of woman into non-technical areas, such as administration,
logistics, Accounting , Education and Meteorology. The first ever Woman Officers were commissioned into the administrative and
education branches of the Indian Air Force on June 12 1993.
But the "big break" come in 1992 when opportunities for "pioneer woman officers" were opened in the areas of transportation,
helicopters and navigation.
The IAF advertised for 8 vacancies for woman pilots and was flooded with over 20,000 application; Of these 13 candidate
were selected into the IAF's transport fleet
At the Air Force Academy in Hyderabad the cadets underwent 3 months of pre flying training following by stage 1
flying training an HPT- 32 aircraft and stage II flying training on the Kiran Aircraft
After 10 months of training, 5 of the 7 successfully completed the course and they recieved pilot's conversion training at the Ydahanka
Air Force station.
On succesful completion of their stage 3 training on AVVO and AN-32, they recieved their "wings" and become
Commissioned Officers. The first ever woman pilot were inducted into the IAF on 17th Dec 1994.
During the Kargil war, Flight Officer Gunjan Saxena made history by becoming the first woman IAF officer to fly in a combat zone.
She was later honoured with the Shurya Vir Award .
H.Roshninanda Sharma (parlin) , a resident in Pune, India, writes regularly to e-pao.net
You can email him at [email protected]
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