JAIPUR: It’s not by accident that IAF Flight Lieutenant Swati Rathore took to flying. Rather, it was a passion that started as a child when she would draw pictures of aircraft.
As Rathore gets ready to become the first woman pilot to participate in the fly past on Rajpath in Delhi on Republic Day, her father, Bhawani Singh Rathore, says to TOI, "Swati had always wanted to join IAF. When she was a child, whenever she would make drawings, it would be that of an aircraft. This was the reason why she also signed up for the National Cadet Corps (NCC).”
The 28-year-old IAF officer who hails from Prempura in Nagaur will be flying the Mi-17 V5 with IAF flag in a formation of four choppers. Rathore, who was commissioned in 2014, will be the only woman pilot in this formation of the fly past.
Posted as a deputy director in the agriculture department in Ajmer, Bhawani Singh says his daughter was a very focused person while growing up. “She was always clear in her mind and worked hard to get selected to IAF. She also has uncles who have served in the defence forces so was well aware about the work that was required to join the armed forces. All of us in the family are proud of her achievements and pray that she continues to be on the same path,” he says.
While in NCC, she won a gold medal in shooting and appeared for the Airforce Common Admission Test in 2013 which she cleared and, finally, after training, got commissioned into IAF, eventually realising her dream of becoming a pilot. She did her studies both in Ajmer and Jaipur.
Prior to this, Rathore had participated in a fly past on Air Force Day on October 8 last year. The young officer, who is making history, was part of the rescue operation conducted by IAF during the 2018 Kerala floods.