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IAF's Sarang team gets first woman pilot

Blue_Eyes

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IAF's Sarang team gets first woman pilot - The Times of India

Jayanta Gupta,TNN | Feb 20, 2015, 04.32 PM IST
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Squadron Leader Deepika Misra, a pilot and Flight Lieutenant Sandeep Singh, an engineering officer, have become the first women to join the IAF’s helicopter display team Sarang.

KOLKATA: It may still be years before the Indian Air Force (IAF) allows women to fly combat missions but they have successfully stormed a male bastion. Squadron Leader Deepika Misra, a pilot and Flight Lieutenant Sandeep Singh, an engineering officer, have become the first women to join the IAF's helicopter display team Sarang.

During the passing out parade at Air Force Academy in December 2006, Deepika, who was then a flight cadet, fell in love with the aerobatic displays by the Surya Kirans and Sarang. She dreamt of flying in either of the formation flying teams someday.

After being commissioned in the helicopter stream, she was posted to a Chetak/Cheetah unit. At that time, women short service commission pilots were only permitted to fly these single-engined helicopters. In 2010, in a major policy shift, the IAF allowed women to pilot the twin-engine medium to heavy lift helicopters. After her two stints at Bareilly and Udhampur, Deepika had notched up nearly 1,600 hours on Chetaks and Cheetahs when her dreams started turning to reality.

She was among the first to volunteer for the Sarang Team and was inducted to the indigenously-built Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) unit. Other women joined the Mi-8 and Mi-17 units. In July, 2014, she joined the Sarang Team. She became the first woman pilot ever to join a formation display team.

Deepika's husband Squadron Leader Sourabh Kakkar, an aeronautical engineering officer was already posted to the Sarang Team. Before long, Sandeep became the second woman officer to join Sarang. The two women now share a rare camaraderie. It was a proud moment for them. After all, Sarang is the one of two military helicopter display teams in the world. The other one is the Blue Eagles of the British Royal Army Corps.

"Deepika has already begun her conversion and will soon fly as a Sarang formation member. She is training hard and learning the nuances of formation flying, which was always among her most favourite flying profiles. The Sarang Team has been a show-stopper in Aero India 2015 and Deepika is happy with her role as 'Safety Officer'. Her job entails monitoring the formation display and debriefing the team members after each sortie," a senior officer said. "It is a great learning process," Deepika says.

Sandeep also has an onerous responsibility of keeping the helicopters serviceable at all times. She is part of a team of seven engineering officers. "Having another lady officer in the team as a flying member is a great source of inspiration," Sandeep says. Deepika and Sandeep hope that one day there will be an all-women team in an ALH in the Sarang quartet. As she steps out for her day's flying job, Deepika is happy to tell Aalya, her bewildered four-year old daughter that she will look out for her from the sky. It seems only a matter of time before little Aalya will get used to seeing her mother perform aerial ballad. Perhaps someday she too may follow in her mother's footsteps.
 
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