Women's Day Special: 10 things that you must know about Avani Chaturvedi, the first Indian woman to fly a fighter aircraft

Congratulations Avani Chaturvedi! Photo Courtesy: IndiaToday.in

In January, this year, a news piece in particular caught my attention. It was about three Indian women training to become female fighter pilots. It was indeed great news because prior to this, there were no women flying fighter jets in the Indian Air Force. Fast forward a few weeks, Avani Chaturvedi has done it! Yay! She has become the first Indian woman to fly a fighter aircraft. Recently, she completed a solo flight on a MiG-21 Bison fighter aircraft and created history. She took off from the Jamnagar Airbase and her flight lasted for about 30 minutes.

Flying Officer Avani Chaturvedi became the first Indian woman to fly a fighter aircraft (MiG-21 bison) solo pic.twitter.com/BHSorfsASG

— ANI (@ANI) February 21, 2018

Well, congratulations to her. But, knowing just about her maiden flight is not enough. Let's dig a bit and find out who she really is. So, here we go:

1. Avani is from Rewa district in Madhya Pradesh. Born on October 24, 1993, little Avani was always interested in joining the Indian Army. Her brother, who is an officer too, was a major influence. But, never in her wildest dream did she ever imagine becoming the first female fighter pilot in India.

2. She completed her schooling from Deoland. Later, she went to college and received her Bachelors in Technology degree from Banasthali University in 2014.

Photo Courtesy: Twitter

3. Her father is an executive engineer with the Madhya Pradesh government.

4. After qualifying the Indian Air Force exam, she completed her training from Hyderabad Air Force Academy.

5. Then, she took six months of training on Kiran trainer jets at Hakimpet and then trained for one year on Hawk advanced trainer jets at Bidar Air Base.

6. On June 18, 2016, along with Mohana Singh and Bhawana Kanth, Avani joined the Indian Air Force fighter squadron.

?????? ???????... #womenempowerment https://t.co/S8PSzcmw0Z pic.twitter.com/Q4MIcl7tOs

— Sakshi News (@sakshinews) February 22, 2018

7. Interestingly, she was trained with 43 other male course mates. The women in the class were advised to delay their marriages and pregnancies.

Photo Courtesy: Twitter

8. After her latest successful feat, she will now train for at least another two years before being deployed as a fully operational pilot. She will then graduate to learn about tactical flying and how to use an aircraft as war fighting machine.

9. Thanks to Avani, India is now at par with countries like Britain, UK, Israel, and Pakistan. These countries have had female fighter pilots in the past.

Photo Courtesy: Twitter

10. Apart from being really passionate about her career, she is also interested in sports such as table tennis and chess. In fact, she loves painting too.

Photo Courtesy: Twitter