Women Touch The Sky: All-Women IAF Crew Creates History, Flies Mi-17 Helicopter In Battle Training Mission

We are in the 21st century and with a subtle change in mindset, we can see women continuing to outperform their male counterparts in all spheres --be it sports, business, politics or armed force, women have been working shoulder to shoulder with men.

In yet another achievement by women officers, an all-woman crew of the Indian Air Force on Monday flew a medium-lift helicopter for the first time in India, the Indian Air Force said.

As part of Battle Inoculation Training mission, the all-women crew comprising of three members - Captain, Co-Pilot, and Flight Engineer, flew Mi-17 V5 chopper which took off from a forward air base in South Western Air Command.

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The crew member comprised of Flight Lieutenant Parul Bhardwaj (Captain), Flying Officer Aman Nidhi (co-pilot) and Flight Lieutenant Hina Jaiswal (Flight Engineer), a defence release said.

Flight Lieutenant Parul Bhardwaj hails from Punjab's Mukerian. Flight Lieutenant Hina Jaiswal from Chandigarh is the first woman flight engineer of the IAF, the release said that also added that Flying officer Aman Nidhi, who hails from Jharkhand's Ranchi, is the first woman IAF pilot from the state.

#Congratulations #Milestone : IAF Hails #WomanPower - F/L Parul Bhardwaj, F/O Aman Nidhi, F/L Hina Jaiswal became the first 'all woman' crew to fly a medium-lift IAF helicopter. S/L Richa Adhikari gave the pre-flight certification to the helicopter. https://t.co/C1EOrGCV7j pic.twitter.com/yG2SUCqMPf

— Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) May 27, 2019

"The all women crew flew a Mi-17 V5 helicopter for a Battle Inoculation Training mission taking off and landing from restricted areas at a forward air base in South Western air command," the release said.

Defence release also said, “This is yet another achievement of women officers in the IAF.”

Before penning history, the pilots had undergone their basic flying training at the ‘Helicopter Training School’ at Air Force Station Hakimpet followed by advanced training at Air Force Station Yelahanka.

The helicopter was certified airworthy by Squadron Leader Richa Adhikari the unit Engineering officer.