Flight Lt. Harita Kaur Deol (10 November 1971 – 24 December 1996) was a pilot with the

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...

. She was the first woman pilot to fly solo in the

. The flight was on 2 September 1994 in an Avro HS-748, when she was 22 years old.

Career

Hailing from

Chandigarh Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which al ...

in a

Jat The Jat people ((), ()) are a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in late medieval times, and subse ...

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

family, in 1993, she became one of the first seven women cadets inducted into the Air Force as

Short Service Commission The Officers Training Academy (OTA) is a training establishment of the Indian Army that trains officers for the Short Service Commission (SSC). The 49-week course at the OTA prepares graduates for all branches of the Army, except for the Army Me ...

(SSC) officers. This also marked a critical phase in training of women in India as transport pilots. After initial training at Air Force Academy, Dundigul near

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

, she received further training at Air Lift Forces Training Establishment (ALFTE) at

Yelahanka Air Force Station The Yelahanka Air Force Station is an Indian Air Force airfield in Yelahanka, Bengaluru. The main role of this airfield is to train pilots to fly transport planes. This station also conducts type-conversion of navigators on the Antonov An-32. ...

Death

She died in an aircrash near

Nellore Nellore is a city located on the banks of Penna River, in Nellore district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It serves as the headquarters of the district, as well as Nellore mandal and Nellore revenue division. It is the List of cities in ...

on 24 December 1996, at age 24. She was one of 24 Air Force personnel to die when an Indian Air Force Avro aircraft crashed near the Bukkapuram village in

Prakasam district Prakasam district is one of the thirteen districts in the coastal Andhra region of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It was formed in 1970 and reorganised in 2022 on April 4. The headquarters of the district is Ongole. It is located on the weste ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

References

1971 births 1996 deaths Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in India Indian Air Force personnel Indian female military personnel Indian Sikhs People from Chandigarh Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1996 Women air force personnel Women from Chandigarh {{India-mil-bio-stub