Mohana Singh becomes first IAF woman pilot to be operational by day on Hawk jets

Flight Lieutenant Mohana Singh, one of India's first female fighter pilots, scripted history on Friday as the first ever woman pilot to become operational on Hawk advanced jet aircraft.

"Flt Lt Mohana Singh, became the first woman fighter pilot to become fully operational by day on Hawk advanced jet aircraft as she landed after a gruelling 4 Aircraft combat sortie at Air Force station, Kalaikunda , West Bengal, which was the last syllabus sortie, of being fully operational on the Hawk Jets," the Indian Air Force (IAF) said in a statement.

The female fighter pilot achieved the feat after rigorous training involving both Air to Air combat and Air to Ground missions.

"She has undertaken many practice missions which involved firing of rockets, guns and dropping high caliber bombs and also participated in various Air Force Level flying exercises. She has a total of over 500 hrs of incident-free flying of which 380 hrs are on the Hawk Mk 132 jet," the statement read.

In June 2016, Singh along with two other girls Bhawna Kanth and Avani Chaturvedi, joined the fighter stream. Flt Lt Bhawana Kanth just became fully operational by day on MiG-21 Bison recently.