Glass ceiling broken: Navy gets its first female pilot

Kochi: Sub-Lieutenant Shivangi became the first woman pilot of the Indian Navy on Monday when she and two more trainee officers qualified as naval aviators. Vice Admiral AK Chawla of the Southern Naval Command presented “Wings” to the passing-out officers.

The award of the coveted golden "Wings" marks the culmination of their yearlong flying training at the Air Force Academy, Dundigal, and Indian Naval Air Squadron on INS Garuda in Kochi.

The aviators will now join the ‘Dornier Operational Flying Training’ course from mid-January 2020 before joining an operational maritime reconnaissance squadron.

Sub Lieutenant Shivangi from Muzaffarpur in Bihar was inducted into the Indian Navy in June 2018 under the short service commission scheme-Pilot entry scheme and was part of the 27th naval orientation course at the Indian Naval Academy, Ezhimala, Kerala.

As part of her training, she has throttled Pilatus PC 7 Mk II, Basic Trainer at AFA and completed the Navy's Dornier Conversion Course.

First Female Pilot Sub-Lieutenant #Shivangi joins Naval Ops.
Proud moment 💐💐#IndianNavy pic.twitter.com/kdazAgRMF4

— Syed Nadeem Hussaini (@indiansnh) December 2, 2019

Lieutenant Shivam Pandey bagged the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Rolling trophy for topping in overall order of merit.