Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Bangalore : Thirty-year-old Suman Sharma, the first Indian woman who flew as co-pilot on the F-16IN Super Viper, is now ready to get into IAF's deadly SU-30 if she passes tests and the IAF permits it. She has even filed her application.
Suman says her experience on the F-16IN would stand her in good stead for future flights. Interestingly, Suman's F-16 simulator stint at Fortworth Texas and at the Centrifugal chamber for pilots in Bangalore seems to have helped her for the F-16 flight. Suman told TOI: "I did not pass out even once in the centrifugal chamber in Bangalore. Withstanding that gave me confidence to fly on the F-16IN."
Suman, who is writing a personal account of her experience on the F-16, shared some of it: "As I embarked the all-digital glass cockpit of the F-16IN Super Viper on a journey of self-discovery, my thoughts went out to the more than 800 women officers in the Indian Air Force (IAF). These bold women have come a long way from being short service non-combatants since 1992 and can hope for combat flying much like their Pakistani counterparts, four of whom were commissioned into fighter flying in 2006."
The air show, she said, gave her "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" to get close with `combat'. "As I stepped in, I was impressed by the newly introduced automated recovery system of the Viper, an edge over the legacy F-16, as it warns, automatically takes off and saves the machine and lives from crashing. But none of this was my concern as I was in the safe hands of Paul `Bear' Randall, my pilot, what with his 4,200 hours of fighter experience!
11/02/09 Times of India
Suman says her experience on the F-16IN would stand her in good stead for future flights. Interestingly, Suman's F-16 simulator stint at Fortworth Texas and at the Centrifugal chamber for pilots in Bangalore seems to have helped her for the F-16 flight. Suman told TOI: "I did not pass out even once in the centrifugal chamber in Bangalore. Withstanding that gave me confidence to fly on the F-16IN."
Suman, who is writing a personal account of her experience on the F-16, shared some of it: "As I embarked the all-digital glass cockpit of the F-16IN Super Viper on a journey of self-discovery, my thoughts went out to the more than 800 women officers in the Indian Air Force (IAF). These bold women have come a long way from being short service non-combatants since 1992 and can hope for combat flying much like their Pakistani counterparts, four of whom were commissioned into fighter flying in 2006."
The air show, she said, gave her "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" to get close with `combat'. "As I stepped in, I was impressed by the newly introduced automated recovery system of the Viper, an edge over the legacy F-16, as it warns, automatically takes off and saves the machine and lives from crashing. But none of this was my concern as I was in the safe hands of Paul `Bear' Randall, my pilot, what with his 4,200 hours of fighter experience!
11/02/09 Times of India
Labels: Defense, F16, India, USA
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