Advika Jha from Bihar follows Bhawana Kanth, set to fly IAF jet

After Bhawana Kanth, one among the first women fighter pilots of the Indian Air Force, another woman from Bihar, Advika Jha, is set to make the state and the country proud of her achievement. Advika has been selected as a pilot by the Indian Air Force for Short Service Commission for Women.

Advika Jha will undergo a training for one and a half years, following which she is expected to fly fighter jets and cargo plane of the Indian Air Force. The training will commence in July at IAF academy in Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh, said a report in News18.

She is daughter of Dr Ajay Kumar, who is currently in a government job in Delhi.

According to the News18 report, Advika Jha studied class 10 and class 12 at Kendriya Vidyalaya in the national capital, following which she pursued B Tech.

Before Advika, Bhawana Kanth, who hails from Bihar, became the second woman combat pilot to solo in a fighter aircraft. The first woman combat pilot was Avani Chaturvedi.

Bhawana Kanth was commissioned into the Indian Air Force in July 2016, less than a year after the fighter stream was opened for women on an experimental basis.

It was in October 2015 that the government had taken the decision to open the fighter stream for women in IAF. And in October 2017, history was created when the first three women fighter pilots of the country were given the green signal to fly military jets after completing a strenuous training in the next three weeks.