Kolkata, Oct. 22 : The first batch of women pilots of the Indian Navy have been operationalized on Dornier aircraft by the Southern Naval Command (SNC) at Kochi. They are Lieutenant Divya Sharma from Malviya Nagar in New Delhi, Lieutenant Shubhangi Swaroop from Tilhar in Uttar Pradesh and Lieutenant Shivangi from Muzaffarpur in Bihar.
The three women pilots were part of the six pilots of the 27th Dornier Operational Flying Training (DOFT) Course, who graduated as ‘Fully operational Maritime Reconnaissance (MR) Pilots’ at a passing out ceremony held at INS Garuda, Kochi on Thursday.
SNC Chief Staff Officer (Training) Rear Admiral Antony George presented awards to the pilots who are now fully qualified on Dornier aircraft for all operational missions.
These officers had initially undergone basic flying training partly with the Indian Air Force and partly with the Navy prior to the DOFT course. Amongst the three women pilots operationalized for MR flying, Lt Shivangi was the first to qualify as a naval pilot on December 2 last year.
The course comprised of one month of ground training phase which was conducted at various professional schools of the 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.
