Bengaluru: For the first time, Aero India will observe ‘Women’s Day’ on Saturday, and as if in response, the first woman pilot of the Sarang desi aerobatic helicopter team will perform a few breathtaking sorties. Squadron Leader Sneha Kulkarni, 33, will co-pilot a Dhruv Helicopter-2. This is her second appearance in the show.
Born into a middle-class family from Jalgaon, Maharashtra, Sneha, is a source of inspiration for many, especially budding women pilots. An accomplished pilot, she volunteered to join the aerobatic team and cleared its stringent selection process. “It is a dream for any helicopter pilot to be part of the Sarang team,” Sneha said. “You get a chance to entertain and enthral the public by performing at extreme levels and with extreme equipment ability.”
She said she was inspired by her elder brother, Lieutenant Colonel Mangesh Kulkarni, an NDA officer, to join the forces. “The discipline and lifestyle he inculcated after joining the forces made an impact on me,” she said. “I always dreamt of becoming a soldier during my teenage days."
Sneha, a BSc graduate, joined the Indian Air Force in 2005 and was commissioned in 2007. Initially, she was posted in Tezpur, Assam and was part of many disaster relief operations. She has been with the Sarang team for the past four years and made her first appearance at Aero India in 2017. Incidentally, her husband, Squadron Leader Raveesh Kumar, is a Sarang teammate, but he has been deputed as a safety officer this year.
23/02/19 Kiran Parashar/Times of India
To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline
Born into a middle-class family from Jalgaon, Maharashtra, Sneha, is a source of inspiration for many, especially budding women pilots. An accomplished pilot, she volunteered to join the aerobatic team and cleared its stringent selection process. “It is a dream for any helicopter pilot to be part of the Sarang team,” Sneha said. “You get a chance to entertain and enthral the public by performing at extreme levels and with extreme equipment ability.”
She said she was inspired by her elder brother, Lieutenant Colonel Mangesh Kulkarni, an NDA officer, to join the forces. “The discipline and lifestyle he inculcated after joining the forces made an impact on me,” she said. “I always dreamt of becoming a soldier during my teenage days."
Sneha, a BSc graduate, joined the Indian Air Force in 2005 and was commissioned in 2007. Initially, she was posted in Tezpur, Assam and was part of many disaster relief operations. She has been with the Sarang team for the past four years and made her first appearance at Aero India in 2017. Incidentally, her husband, Squadron Leader Raveesh Kumar, is a Sarang teammate, but he has been deputed as a safety officer this year.
23/02/19 Kiran Parashar/Times of India
0 comments:
Post a Comment