Bangalore: Suman Sharma, daughter of a retired Indian naval officer and an army colonel's sister, became the world's first woman to fly the mighty Russian MiG-35 fighter jet at the Aero India international air show here.
The 30-year-old also became the first civilian woman to co-pilot the American-strike fighter F-16IN of Lockheed Martin two days before the biennial event took off at the Indian Air Force (IAF) base at Yelahanka.
"The Russians confirmed from Moscow that I was the world's first woman to fly the Mikoyan fourth generation twin-engine multi-role fighter aircraft (MiG-35) Friday with MiG Corp test pilot Mikhail Belyaev for over 40 minutes cruising at 0.9 Mach speed and pulled 7G above 20,000 feet," an elated Sharma said.
A qualified pilot with a stint in the IAF as a commissioned officer and currently a flying instructor with the Indian Military Academy (IMA) at Dehradun, Sharma flew in the single-engine F-16 with Lockheed test pilot Paul Randall.
They touched 6G while flying 90 miles southwards into interior Karnataka. "I had the privilege of taking controls in both the fighters for a while to perform loops, barrel and side rolls, stalls, dives and 360 degree turns. Though I was alert and fit, breathing at such altitudes and speed is a bit difficult. Yoga practice came to my rescue," she said.
"During my IAF service, I co-piloted transport aircraft AN-32 and IL-76 and flew civilian jets subsequently.
"The experience came handy in conditioning to fly the fighters. In addition, yoga practice, jazz dance and diet control made me remain lean and fit to wear the G-suit and participate in aerobatics at different G force," she said.
Asked if she applied to the IAF to fly in one of its Sukhoi (Su-30MKI) fourth generation fighters, Sharma said though she did to co-pilot a Su-30, she was yet to get a clearance.
"As a rule, IAF does not allow women warriors to be taken as prisoners of war by the enemy though women pilots in the US and Israel fly combat aircraft. Though the Russian air force is not averse to fair-gender flying fighters, there are no women fighter pilots yet," she said.
Sharma, however, is hopeful the IAF would change its rule to allow women to fly fighters.
