President Droupadi Murmu reviewed the Combined Graduation Parade (CGP) of the 211th course with full Military splendour at Air Force Academy (AFA) in Dundigal close to Hyderabad on Saturday. Speaking on the occasion Murmu mentioned, “I am glad that the Indian Air Force is now inducting women officers in all roles and branches. There is a substantial number of women fighter pilots which is bound to increase”.

At the occasion, Murmu additionally recalled how she flew a sortie in a Sukhoi 30 MKI fighter aircraft at the Tejpur Air Force station in Assam. “In April 2023, I flew a sortie in a Sukhoi 30 MKI fighter plane on the Tejpur Air Force station in Assam. I flew for practically half-hour overlaying Brahmaputra and Tejpur valleys with an amazing view of the Himalayas earlier than returning to the Air Force station. It was certainly an amazing expertise to fly at a top of about 2 km above sea degree at a pace of about 800 km/hour,” she mentioned.

However, Murmu shouldn’t be the primary president to make a sortie in a fighter plane. In 2009, former president Pratibha Patil had flown within the frontline Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jet from the Pune air drive base.

Meanwhile, that is the primary event of AFA when the president acted because the reviewing officer of the CGP, AFA officers say. CGP marks the profitable completion of the pre-commissioning coaching of flight cadets of assorted branches of the Indian Air Force.

The parade will likely be adopted by an aerobatic show by Pilatus PC-7 coach plane, a fly-past by the formation of PC-7, an aerobatic present by Su-30, and different aerobatic shows by the helicopter show groups, the AFA launch states.