Avani Chaturvedi Height, Age, Husband, Family, Biography & More

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Age: 29 Years

Hometown: Rewa, Madhya Pradesh

Husband: Vineet Chikara

Bio/Wiki
Profession	Indian Air Force officer (fighter pilot)
Physical Stats & More
Height (approx.)	in centimeters- 163 cm in meters- 1.63 m in feet inches- 5’ 4”
Weight (approx.)	in kilograms- 50 kg in pounds- 110 lbs
Eye Colour	Black
Hair Colour	Black
Career
Awards, Honours, Achievements	• 2018: Honored with the doctorate degree from Banasthali Vidyapeeth • 2018: Became the first woman fighter pilot to undertake a solo flight in MiG-21 Bison fighter aircraft • 2020: Became the first Indian female fighter pilot in India, along with Bhawana Kanth and Mohana Singh • 2020: Received Nari Shakti Puraskar by former President Ram Nath Kovind • 2023: Became the first Indian woman fighter pilot to take part in an air combat exercise.
Personal Life
Date of Birth	27 October 1993 (Wednesday)
Age (as of 2023)	29 Years
Birthplace	Satna, Madhya Pradesh, India
Zodiac sign	Scorpio
Nationality	Indian
Hometown	Rewa, Madhya Pradesh, India
School	Adarsh Higher Secondary School in Deoland, Shahdol district, Madhya Pradesh
College/University	Banasthali University in Rajasthan, India
Educational Qualification	Bachelor of Technology degree in Computer Science (2010-14)
Hobbies	Painting, sketching, playing chess & table tennis
Relationships & More
Marital Status	Married
Marriage Date	November 2019
Family
Husband/Spouse	Vineet Chikara (a flight lieutenant in Indian Air Force)
Parents	Father- Dinkar Chaturvedi (a superintending engineer in the Water Resource Department of the Madhya Pradesh government) Mother- Name not known (homemaker)
Siblings	She has an elder brother, who is an officer in the Indian Army.
Favourites
Statesman	A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
Game	Chess
Sport	Table tennis

Some Lesser Known Facts About Avani Chaturvedi

Avani Chaturvedi is an Indian fighter pilot in the Indian Air Force.

Avani grew up amongst the army officers in her family, which inspired her to get into the Indian Air Force.

After schooling, she moved to Rajasthan to pursue her engineering in Computer Science at Banasthali University.
Avani Chaturvedi as an alumni of Banasthali University

While pursuing her B.Tech. (CSE) at Banasthali University, Avani was a Core Team Member of Mayukh (the Annual Tech Fiesta of the University).

When she was studying at Banasthali University, she was a member of the flying club of the college after which she developed an interest in flying. While being a member of the club, she gained the experience of flying a plane for a few hours. She was also one of the members of the annual tech fiesta of the University named ‘Mayukh.’

As part of her B.Tech. (CSE) the internship programme, Avani underwent a 6-month internship as an Associate Software Engineer at Ranosys Technologies Pte Ltd.

After her B.Tech. (CSE), she worked as a System Engineer at IBM for more than 3-years.

After working in the IT sector, she took the Air Force Common Admission Test (AFCAT) exam and cleared it. Later, she was also recommended by Air Force Selection Board (AFSB).

Avani’s dream to become a fighter pilot, took her to one year of rigorous training at the Air Force Academy at Dundigal (Hyderabad).
Avani Chaturvedi during training

Avani Chaturvedi training at the air force academy in Telangana

Reportedly, she had 43 male batch mates during her training at the Indian Air Force academy in Telangana. In an interview, when she was asked about what was the reaction of her male counterparts when she became one of the first women to be trained with them to become a fighter pilot, she said,

The first day, I think it was quite new to them, as it was for me. I have a great bond with all my classmates. Every flight, every landing, and every take-off is different. There are days when you’ll have a bad sortie, and you will feel bad about it. On these days, when I’d go back and speak to a classmate, I’d learn that, oh, the same thing happened to him also a few days ago. That’s when I feel that I’m not the only one and that it’s human to make mistakes.” ^[1]Mint

In October 2015, India’s Defence Ministry took a decision to allow women in the Air Force as part of a 5-year experiment.

There have always been disbeliefs prevailing in society about women not being able to combat in war. In August 2010, an Indian senior social scientist and historian, Prem Chowdhry, published a paper titled ‘Women in the Army’ in which she wrote that combat, by nature, is a male occupation; that the army is a male space and combat the most masculine of all aspects of war. However, in 2016, Avani Chaturvedi shattered this disbelief and proved that women can do combat. In an interview, when she was asked about her views on gender discrimination, she replied,

The best part of being a pilot is that you are flying an aircraft—it is a machine. The aircraft does not know who is sitting behind it, so the machine will behave in the same way it would behave with a male pilot.” ^[2]Mint

In July 2016, Avani Chaturvedi, along with Mohana Singh and Bhawana Kanth, became the first women to be commissioned as Flying Officers in the Indian Air Force, after completing their initial basic training at the air force academy in Telangana. They are part of an experiment by the Government of India to induct women officers as fighter pilots.

In February 2018, Avani Chaturvedi became the first Indian woman to fly a fighter aircraft solo when she flew a MiG-21 Bison. Avani undertook the sortie from IAF’s Jamnagar base on 19 February 2018.

In January 2023, it was announced that Avani would participate in the first-ever air combat exercise between India and Japan, making her the first IAF woman fighter pilot to join such aerial war events in a foreign country. ^[3]The Times of India At the aerial war event, she flew the Sukhoi-30MKI jet. The combat took place from 12 January 2023 to 26 January 2023 at the Hyakuri airbase in Japan.
Avani Chaturvedi at the Hayakuri Air Base in Japan