Avani Chaturvedi becomes the first Indian woman to solely fly a fighter aircraft

The success stories of Indian women have been surprising us over the years and here is another story of 24-year-old Avani Chaturvedi, who became the first Indian woman pilot to fly a fighter aircraft solo from the IAFs Gujarat’s Jamnagar airbase.

Avani Chaturvedi is from a small district in Madhya Pradesh, who went on to pursue her training at the Hyderabad Air Force Academy.  She is one of the three from the first batch of female Indian pilots with Bhawana Kanth and Mohana Singh, who were a part of the induction in Indian Air Force fighter squadron on 18 June 2016.

Avani flew a MiG-21 Bison, which has the highest landing and take-off speeds in the world. This accomplishment of Avani Chaturvedi has put India on the global list of countries such as the United States, Israel, Britain, and Pakistan, where women fly fighter jets.

This was Avani’s first solo training sortie and she flew it for 30 minutes in Gujarat’s Jamnagar airbase, an Indian Air Force official said. And once she finishes her stage-3 training in Bidar, Karnataka next year, Ms. Chaturvedi would be able to fly fighter jets like Sukhoi and Tejas.