Harita Kaur Deol

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

She was the first woman pilot to fly solo in the Indian Air Force.

[1][2][3][4] Hailing from Chandigarh in a Sikh family,[1] in 1993, she became one of the first seven women cadets inducted into the Air Force as Short Service Commission (SSC) officers.

This also marked a critical phase in training of women in India as transport pilots.

[5] 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 of Andhra Pradesh.