Daijiworld Media Network – Chikkamagaluru (DC)

Chikkamagaluru, Jun 18: Meghana Shanbhag from Chikkamagaluru has become the first woman fighter pilot from south Indian. She got her wings on Saturday June 16 at the combined graduation parade at Dundigal in Hyderabad.

Meghana was born in Marle village in Kasaba, Chikkamagaluru to a family of lawyers. Her father M K Ramesh is a practicing lawyer and mother S C Shobha serves as a judge in the district consumer forum, Udupi.

Meghana completed her early education at Little Rock Indian School at Brahmavar and did her BE in Information science and engineering at Sri Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering, Mysuru.

Meghana has also become the sixth woman fighter pilot to be commissioned into the IAF from across India. All five woman fighter pilots who got wings in the Indian Air Force hail from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

Before joining the Air Force, she finished basic mountaineering course in Manali and trained in paragliding at Goa. She joined the flying branch of the Air Force Academy in 2017 and was cleared for flying in the fighter stream in a trifurcation board.

Speaking to media persons, Meghana said that she was inspired by India'a first woman pilots Avani Chaturvedi and others Bhavana Kanth, Mohana Singh.

"I was inspired by the success stories of Mohana Singh, Bhavan Kanth and Avani Chaturvedi, who are some of India’s foremost women fighter pilots, which led to my decision on entering the Air Force. I cleared the Air Force common entrance test in my first attempt. I started flying the Pilatus in 2017. My memory of flying for the first time was unforgettable. It doesn’t matter how different or big our dreams are, they must be chased," she said.

Meanwhile, Chikkamagaluru MLA C T Ravi congratulated Meghana and said, "Congratulations to Chikkamagaluru's pride, Miss Meghana for becoming the first South Indian fighter jet pilot in the Indian Air Force. I wish her more success in her journey that will take her to greater heights."

Indian Air Force too congratulated the woman pilots and tweeted, "Congratulations to Newly Commissioned Offrs: Today, from the portals of AFA, a total of 113 Offrs Graduated as Flying Offrs in the #IAF. The occasion also marked the commissioning of another Woman Fighter Pilot Meghana Shanbhag.”