After IAF, Navy gets 1st woman fighter pilot

NEW DELHI: After IAF, which now has over 20 women fighter pilots, the Navy too now has a woman officer all set to begin one year of final training to qualify as a full-fledged MiG-29K pilot capable of tearing into the sky from an aircraft carrier on the high seas.

Sub-Lieutenant Aastha Poonia and Lt Atul Kumar Dhull received their prestigious "Wings of Gold" after completing their transitional fighter training on Hawk advanced jet trainers, which includes learning intensive combat maneuvers, at INS Dega at Visakhapatnam on Thursday.


"Sub-Lt Poonia has become the first woman to be streamed into the fighter stream of naval aviation, shattering barriers and paving the way for a new era of women fighter pilots in the Navy," an officer said .

In her early-20s, Sub-Lt Poonia will now undergo extensive training on actual fighters, which has a ski-jump to resemble an aircraft carrier's deck.