Operation Sindoor: A girl who grew up to 'own the skies'

LUCKNOW: It was a proud moment for Lucknow when Wing Commander Vyomika Singh , "daughter of the sky" as her name means, stood tall at a high-profile briefing to national and international media from New Delhi, her voice steady as she gave details of Operation Sindoor , India's airstrikes in response to the Pahalgam terror attack .

Accompanied by Union foreign secretary Vikram Misri and Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, Lucknow girl Vyomika Singh, in her early 40s, an accomplished helicopter pilot , shared the dais as a symbol of " Nari Shakti " - women leading with valour in the face of crisis.


Commissioned in the Indian Air Forcec on Dec 18, 2004 as part of the 21st Short Service Commission (Women), Singh rose to wing commander in 13 years (in 2017).

She received a permanent commission in Dec 2019. A seasoned helicopter pilot, she specializes in operating the Chetak and Cheetah helicopters and has over 2,500 flying hours. She has been living in Delhi for the past several years.

Married to an IAF pilot, Wg Cdr Singh, during a panel discussion in 2023, shared a pivotal moment from her childhood as to how her name carried her destiny. "I was in Class 6 when the eureka moment happened," she had said in a recent interview to a new channel. "We were discussing the meaning of names in the class, and my name is Vyomika, Vyom means sky, and a girl shouted, 'You are Vyomika, which means you own the sky'. Since that day, I wanted to be a pilot; it was 1991-92. Growing up in school, I went through employment news where an advertisement left me sad as it read that only unmarried male candidates could become pilots," said Wg Cdr Singh.

But that spark in the early 1990s ignited a journey that would see her soar to extraordinary heights.

"During my final year of engineering, I got to know that women can become pilots by taking a competitive examination for short service commission via UPSC. I cleared the pilot course in the academy, was awarded the wings, and became a helicopter pilot. After that, I never looked back. It was a rollercoaster experience, especially as being a helicopter pilot I would take on a variety of roles. I've flown from sea level to heights of 18,000 feet," she added.

"I have done a lot of casualty evacuation and made decisions of leaving one person and taking another and then coming back the next day while negotiating with the weather," said Wg Cdr Singh.