'Future is female': Once dominated by men, drone sector has 18% women pilots

Hyderabad: Systematic intervention is the need of the hour in the Drone space, said Rajiv Bansal, former secretary, of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India, and CEO, of NISG (National Institute of Smart Government) while moderating a panel discussion ‘Flight to the Future: Drone Revolutionizing the Aviation Landscape’ during the ongoing ‘Wings India 2024,’ organized by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India and FICCI.

18% licenses given to women drone pilots

“A lot of drone pilots are being trained now. Several hundreds and thousands of Drone Pilot licenses have been issued,” Rajiv Bansal said.

Speaking on the role of women pilots, he stated that currently, there are 18 % women drone pilots out of the 1,600 licenses issued last year. Since we set a global benchmark in civil aviation, the same can be repeated in drones in terms of several drone women pilots,” he added.

From medical to agriculture - Multiple uses of drones

The panel delved into the transformative potential of drones and their impact on air travel, transportation, and logistics both in India and abroad.

Tan Kah Han, Chief Technology Officer and Senior Director for Unmanned Systems Group, Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) said that Hyderabad’s population is 60 percent of Singapore’s. “We are a small country and Singapore needs drones to improve how we work, live and teach,” he said.

Anshu Abhishek, COO and co-founder, of Techeagle, spoke on the Drone Delivery of Medicine. Deepak Bharadwaj, Director and Co-founder of ‘ToTechWorld Aviation’ spoke about connecting technology with farmers and their pioneering work in the manufacture of agri-drones and elevating the earning capacity of farmers by way of better spray capacity.

Wing Commander (Retd) Ajit Mate, Lead System Engineer, at Boeing Air Traffic Management, spoke about the payload carrying capacity of drones, which is currently at around 50 kgs and is likely to increase in the future. SC Sharma, joint director of the Quality Council of India, emphasized on quality control and added that the cost of attaining good-quality products is much lesser than a poor-quality product. Quality and safety play a vital role, he noted.

Greater participation of women in aviation

In another panel discussion on ‘Women in Aviation - fostering gender-neutral opportunities in aviation,’ Vikram Dev Dutt, DG, DGCSA said greater women's participation in aviation is a game changer and force multiplier. The number of women pilots is increasing in India, however, women in meaningful senior leadership are still a challenge. He along with Rubina Ali, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India moderated the panel discussion.

The session aimed to facilitate discussions, share inspiring narratives, and develop strategies that will create a more inclusive aviation industry.

Rubina said once the male-dominated bastions of civil aviation now have women pilots, aeronautical engineers, and women in many other positions.

Anju Madeka, CEO of Durgapur Airport said that she had to prove to stay competitive in the industry. The future in aviation is women, she added. Philip Cumming, Deputy Minister Counsellor, the Embassy of the United States of America observed that India has set a benchmark in women pilots while the world average was 8 percent.

Apart from drone technology and women in the aviation industry, Wings India 2024 had many panel discussions on different subjects such as Skill Development, Startups and Flying Training Organisations (FTOs), Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO), Travel and Tourism, Aircraft Leasing etc, which are of importance to the aviation industry.