(From left) Mohana Singh, Bhawana Kanth and Avani Chaturvedi. PTI

Raj Sadosh

Our Correspondent

Abohar, June 16

Flight Cadets Bhawana Kanth of Darbhanga in Bihar, Avani Chaturvedi of Madhya Pradesh and Mohana Singh of Rajasthan, undergoing training for commissioning in the Fighter Stream of the IAF flying branch, will create history as they pass out of the Air Force Academy in Hyderabad on June 18. The fiesty women comprise the first batch of women flight cadets.Mohana Singh, who studied at the Global Institute of Management and Emerging Technologies (GIMET), Amritsar, belongs to Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan. Her father is in the Air Force and mother is a teacher. Mohana said as a Flt Gunner in the Aviation Research Centre, her grandfather would go to different places on various missions. She wanted to live the same life. Mohana’s aim is to be a part of future combat missions.“Night flying was exhilarating. I remember the small puffs of crackers bursting 1,000 feet below on my first take-off. During my first sector solo sortie at night, blinding lightning left me frightened. As I descended, I encountered clouds. I faced difficulty in discerning between the stars in the dark sky above and the small clusters of light on the dark ground beneath. “I was unable to keep a connect between the instruments and the visual indications of the aircraft altitude. I recalled what my Instructor had taught me: ‘No unnecessary head movement, switch over to instruments, trust your Instruments.’ I disregarded the visual indications and continued the descent, relying totally on the instruments,” she said. Cadet Bhawana did BE (Medical Electronics) from BMS College of Engineering, Bengaluru. It was her dream to “fly like a free bird”. “I want to be a good fighter pilot and make my country and parents proud,” she said. Cadet Avani Chaturvedi, who has done BTech (Computer Science) from Banasthali University, Jaipur, had a few hours of flying experience in the flying club of her college. This motivated her to join the IAF.  “I want to fly the best fighter aircraft and learn more and more each day,” she said.