First Batch Of Women Pilots Of Indian Navy Operationalized On Dornier Aircraft

23 Oct 2020

​Navy’s Maritime Reconnaissance Pilots

The first batch of women pilots of Indian Navy have been operationalized on Dornier Aircraft by the Southern Naval Command at Kochi. The three women pilots were part of the six pilots of the 27th Dornier Operational Flying Training Course, who graduated as ‘Fully operational Maritime Reconnaissance (MR) Pilots’ at a passing out ceremony held at INS Garuda, Kochi on October 22.

​All Parts Of The Country

While Lieutenant Divya Sharma hails from Malviya Nagar, New Delhi, Lieutenant Shubhangi Swaroop belongs to Tilhar, Uttar Pradesh. Lieutenant Shivangi hails from Muzaffarpur, Bihar. These officers had initially undergone basic flying training partly with Indian Air Force and partly with the Navy prior to the (DOFT) Course. Among the three women pilots operationalised for MR Pilots flying, Lt Shivangi was the first to qualify as a naval pilot on December 2, 2019. After 15 days, the two others–Lieutenant Divya Sharma and Lieutenant Shubhangi Swaroop–also became pilots. Later, they were made one batch and became part of the six pilots of the 27th DOFT course, which is the second and most important phase of training for becoming mission ready pilots, the spokesman said.

​Rigorous Training

The course consisted of one month of ground training phase, which was conducted at various professional schools of SNC and eight months of flying training at the Dornier Squadron of SNC, INAS 550. Lt Divya Sharma & Lt Shivam Pandey were adjudged ‘First in Flying’ and ‘First in Ground’ subjects, respectively.

Dornier Ready

Rear Admiral Antony George, Chief Staff Officer (Training) of SNC was the chief guest of the event and presented awards to the pilots. Lieutenant Divya Sharma, Lt Shubhangi Swaroop and Lt Shivangi are now ready to take on all MR missions on Dornier aircraft, a Defence spokesman said on Thursday.

Courtesy: Opera News/ET