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Friday, March 29 2024
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Chikkamagaluru

C’mgluru lass becomes first woman fighter pilot from South India

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Chikkamagaluru: Chikkamagaluru which is well-known for its coffee-plantations will soon also be known for having given the nation its sixth woman fighter pilot, and the very first from Karnataka and South India.

On Saturday, Meghana Shanbough MR, aged 23 and a native of Chikkamagaluru made the district proud by graduating as a Flying Officer from the Air Force Academy, Dundigal.

Right from her childhood, Meghna wanted to do something out of the box and it was when she was studying in Class 4 that she convinced her father to let her study at a boarding school and not be brought up in the comforts of her house. Obliging to her demands, Meghna’s father MK Suresh, an advocate by profession and her mother, who happens to be a judge got her admitted to a boarding school at Udupi where she continued her studies till Class 12 later moving to a college in Mysuru to pursue engineering.

It was here in Mysuru, while on an adventure trip that Meghna was overwhelmed by the way of life her trainers, retired IAF officers from whom she was taking training for paragliding. A dream had been fostered right then and this dream took wings when Meghna came across the news of IAF allowing woman cadres into the cockpit of fighter planes. Inspired by the likes of IAF’s first women fighter pilots- Mohana Singh, Bhawana Kanth and Avani Chaturvedi – Meghana decided to have a go at becoming a fighter pilot and in her very first attempt cleared the AFCAT (Air Force Common Admission Test) and the subsequent SSB (Services Selection Board) and joined AFA as a Flight Cadet in January 2017.

She will now be posted in Bidar for an advanced training where she will be flying the Hawk. A trained singer in Carnatic music, Meghana aspires to fly the Rafale someday.

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