Indian Navy Gets its First Woman Pilot

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : A batch of three trainee officers of the 7^th Dornier Conversion Course (DOCC) including a lady officer qualified as Dornier pilots and were awarded the coveted golden “Wings” at a simple and solemn ceremony held at INS Garuda on December 2, 2019.

Vice Admiral AK Chawla, the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief (FOC-in-C), Southern Naval Command, who was the Chief Guest for the ceremony , presented the “Wings” to the passing out officers, signifying their qualification as naval aviators.

The FOC-in-C South Rolling Trophy for standing first in overall order of merit was awarded to Lieutenant Shivam Pandey. Sub Lieutenant (SLt) Shivangi created history as the first woman pilot of the Indian Navy on successful graduation from the course, according to a PIB release.

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

SLt Shivangi, a native of Muzaffarpur District, Bihar, was inducted into the Indian Navy under the Short Service Commission (SSC)-Pilot entry scheme, and was part of the 27^th Naval orientation course (NOC) Course at the Indian Naval Academy, Ezhimala. She was commissioned into the Navy in June last year.

As part of her training, SLt Shivangi has flown Pilatus PC 7 MkII, Basic Trainer at AFA and completed Dornier Conversion with the Indian Navy at Kochi. She will continue her training at INAS 550, the Dornier squadron at INS Garuda, to become a fully operational pilot on Maritime Reconnaissance (MR) aircraft.