BENGALURU: Combat pilot Mohana Singh, one of the first three women inducted into the fighter squadron of the Indian Air Force in June 2016, conducted a sortie on the Hawk-i jet trainer during Aero India 2019 at Air Force Station, Yelahanka. The country has six women fighter pilots as on date.
A native of Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan, Singh has completed her B.Tech in Electronics and Communication at the Global Institute of Management and Emerging Technologies in Amritsar. The institute calls her as “our Kalpana Chawla”.
Her family has a long association with the IAF, with her father serving as Warrant Officer, while her grandfather was a flight gunner in the Aviation Research Centre.
Mohana, who has little interest in publicity, needed much convincing to open up.
So how tough was it for her to attain success? “Many in my family work in the armed forces. So a career in the defence forces became a natural choice for me,” she said.
However, a fighter pilot’s role was something she had not imagined. “The combat position was not open to women when I entered IAF. I always dreamed of becoming a pilot, and now becoming a fighter pilot has taken me beyond my dreams.”
How difficult is it for women to achieve what she has done? “I would like to tell women to dream big and work towards achieving it,” she said.
She laughs that she was always a racer with her car on the street. “My friends and family would tease me about overspeeding. Now, I continue to zoom on my own in a fighter plane,” she said.
Asked about the negligible presence of women in aero stunts, Singh said it was a matter of time before women made their presence felt in displays. “We have recently entered the world of fighter planes. In a few years, you will see me and others showcasing our skills,” she said with confidence.