KOCHI: The Indian Navy is all set to get its first batch of women pilots for all operational missions on the Dornier aircraft.
Three women pilots -- Lieutenant Divya Sharma from Malviya Nagar in New Delhi, Lieutenant Shubhangi Swaroop from Tilhar in Uttar Pradesh) and Lieutenant Shivangi from Muzaffarpur in Bihar -- completed the Dornier Operational Flying Training (DOFT) course and graduated as ‘fully operational maritime reconnaissance pilots’ at a passing out ceremony held at INS Garuda, the Naval Air Station in Kochi on Thursday. They were among the six pilots who qualified for missions on the Dornier aircraft.
Southern Naval Command (SNC) chief staff officer (Training) Rear Admiral Antony George presented awards to the pilots. The new batch of officers had initially undergone basic flying training partly with the Indian Air Force and partly with the Navy prior to joining the DOFT course. Amongst the three women pilots, Lt Shivangi was the first to qualify as a naval pilot on December 2, 2019.
The course comprised of a month-long ground training phase, which was conducted at various professional schools of SNC and eight months of flying training with the Dornier Squadron of Southern Naval Command. Lt Divya Sharma and Lt Shivam Pandey were adjudged ‘First in Flying’ and ‘First in Ground’ subjects, respectively.
The Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief (South) rolling trophy for the ‘most spirited trainee’ was presented to Lt Kumar Vikram.