IAF Inducts First Woman Flight Engineer

BENGALURU: The Indian Air Force has inducted the first woman flight engineer—Flight Lieutenant Hina Jaiswal—who has successfully completed the course at 112 Helicopter Unit, Air Force Station, Yelahanka.

“She’s created history,” IAF said. Hina was commissioned into the IAF on January 5, 2015, in the engineering branch. ” She has served as Chief of firing team and battery commander in a frontline Surface to Air Missile squadron, before being selected for the prestigious Flight Engineers’ Course. She successfully completed the course and earned her Flight Engineer’s wing on February 15, 2019,” the IAF said.

During the course of six months of grueling training, she trained shoulder to shoulder with her male counterparts, and displayed unflinching commitment, dedication and perseverance.

Hina Jaiswal hails from Chandigarh and has completed her Bachelor of Engineering degree from Panjab University. The only daughter of DK Jaiswal and Anita Jaiswal, Hina describes her achievement as a “dream come true”.

“Since childhood, she had aspired to don the soldier’s uniform and take on the skies as an aviator. Finally, her dreams have manifested into reality after successfully graduating from the alma mater of Heli-lift,” IAF said.

As a Flight Engineer, she would subsequently be posted to operational helicopter units of the IAF. While in the unit, she would be routinely called upon to operate in demanding and stressful conditions, right from the icy heights of the Siachen Glacier to the seas of the Andamans.

In the last few decades, the Indian defence forces have taken long strides to become more gender inclusive. The Indian Air Force since 1993, has commissioned women in the officer cadre and they have also been successfully inducted as pilots in various streams of the IAF.

In 2018, the Flight Engineer branch which was exclusively the domain of male air warriors, was opened for women officers. Flight Engineer is the member of an aircraft’s flight crew who monitors and operates its complex aircraft systems requiring a specialized skill set .

Source: ToI

Image Courtesy: Bhaskar