Given below are two statements:
Statement (I) : Squadron Leader Avani Chaturvedi became the first woman to fly a MiG-21 solo in 2018.
Statement (II) : She is the first woman pilot to be a part of an IAF contingent headed for Japan.
In the light of the above statements, choose the most appropriate answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Both Statement I and Statement II are correct
Avani Chaturvedi was one of the first three women fighter pilots of the Indian Air Force, commissioned in 2016 along with Bhawana Kanth and Mohana Singh.
Statement (I): Squadron Leader Avani Chaturvedi became the first woman to fly a MiG-21 solo in 2018. Correct. On 19 February 2018 she flew a MiG-21 Bison solo from Jamnagar air base, the first Indian woman to fly a fighter aircraft alone.
Statement (II): She is the first woman pilot to be a part of an IAF contingent headed for Japan. Correct. In January 2023 she went to Japan for Veer Guardian 2023, the first bilateral fighter exercise between the IAF and the Japan Air Self-Defence Force, and became the first woman fighter pilot of India to be part of an IAF contingent for an air exercise abroad.