Women Make Better Pilots

Gayathri R. Nair; The sky is the limit

“Women make better pilots.” It is not a feminist declaration. Gayathri R. Nair is merely sharing with us (with Athira M.,The Hindu) what her flying instructors had told her. This helicopter pilot with the Indian Air Force (IAF), now on a vacation at her home near Jagathy, believes her instructors are correct, “because women are amazing multi-taskers. 

They have a peripheral vision, which put them on a higher level as pilots.” The 23-year-old computer science engineer, an alumni of Arya Central School and the LBS Institute of Technology for Women, Poojappura, is now posted with the Jamnagar unit of the IAF as a Flying Officer. Surprisingly, Gayathri never nurtured any dreams of becoming a pilot. 

“My family has no defence background. I have been a great admirer of the profession since my childhood. Girls often get little encouragement when it comes to joining the armed forces. But my parents, K.G. Ramachandran Nair and Sasikala, employees with the State Bank of India, and sister Sharika (working with IBM in Bangalore) didn't question my decision to apply for the short service commission. In fact, I'd applied for all the three streams – the Army, the Navy and the Air Force. I wanted to do something related to the engineering stream, flying never crossed my mind,” she says. 

At the Services Selection Board tests in Mysore, Gayathri fulfilled the parameters for both the engineering and flying streams. She appeared for the Pilot Aptitude Battery Test, a selection format to induct potential officers into flying branch of the IAF, and got selected. “I call that a twist of fate,” Gayathri says. The training, which takes about 18 months, includes theory, and flying lessons on the trainer jet, Kiran. Next, they chose between transportation aircraft and helicopter, since women are not allowed to fly fighters. 

The training is given on a Chetak at the Helicopter Training School, Hakimpet, Hyderabad. Gayathri was commissioned as a Flying Officer by the Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh, DFC on June 18, 2011. Nature of work Sling load operation (carriage, lowering or picking up of a cargo by means of a bucket, net, harness or sling suspended beneath the helicopter) and winching operation (carriage, lowering or picking up of a load, cargo or persons by means of a winch) form part of the syllabi. “We keep practising daily. Sometimes there are communication sorties. We do bird recce (inspect an area to know possible threat from birds) for fighter planes. Also, a helicopter should always be ready when a fighter is around so as to help the personnel during any emergency,” she says, pointing out the Sukhoi-30 crash in Pune on December 13, when their unit rushed for search and rescue operations. “As of now, women are allowed to fly single engine helicopters and not the twin-engine ones. But recently two experienced women officers were allowed to fly twin-engine copter. I hope I get to fly it one day,” she says.

Being a woman “The syllabi are the same for all trainees, irrespective of gender. Challenges are there, especially physical, during the training stages. But there is no inhuman treatment. They don't make you do what you can't do. If you have the strength and will power to do something, you can go for it. In fact, there are women who are as good as or even better than the men,” she says. Permanent commission in the armed forces is a distant dream, she knows. For the time being, she is looking forward to more challenging assignments, like a posting to tougher terrain. 

“Leh would be the toughest. But women aren't posted there. I'm looking forward to a ‘hard posting,' say in Tezpur (Assam), Udhampur, or Bagdogra (Sikkim). I'm also waiting to fly the copter over varied terrains – like mountains, desert and water,” she says. For this eagle in the sky believes in flying high!

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 CONTENT COURTESY on Women Make Better Pilots for STAR SSB MAGAZINE by

 

The Hindu

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