Name: Flight Cadet Mohana Singh

Hails from: Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan

Why she joined the Indian Air Force

Mihana says joining the IAF was a dream instilled by gee parents and grandparents.

"I wanted to carry on the family legacy of serving the nation by being in defence. As a Flight Gunner in Aviation Research Centre, my grandfather used to go to different places on various missions. I wanted to live the same life. Flying was the best opportunity," she says.

"I aspire to make my parents proud by becoming a fighter pilot and fly the best of the fighter in the IAF. I dream of being part of the future combat missions and fight for the nation when duty calls for guarding the nation’s skies," says a confident Mohana.

Training Experience

The night flying phase flying was new to me; it was the best thing that ever happened after coming to Kiran (jet trainer). I remember the small puffs of beautiful crackers bursting 1000 feet below me on my first take off in night flying phase, the ones I used to gaze from below and was amazed at when I was a child.

I was on my first Sector Solo Sortie by night on Kiran. While operating in sector, I witnessed some lightning close to me which frightened me for a moment...

I immediately initiated rejoin and during descent I encountered clouds. I faced difficulty in discerning between the stars in the dark sky above and the small clusters of light on the dark ground beneath.

Soon I realised that I was not able to maintain any connection between instruments and the visual indications of aircraft attitude. I recalled what my Instructor had taught me -- 'No unnecessary head movements, switch over to instruments, trust your instruments'.

These words echoed in my head, I disregarded the visual indications and continued descent to a lower altitude relying totally on instruments. Once visual with the ground, I got oriented and recovered the aircraft safely.