Hi Everyone!! This article will share Breaking Barriers Questions & Answers.
This chapter is about the Flying Officer Avani Chaturvedi – the first Indian woman to fly a fighter aircraft all by herself. In my previous posts, I have shared A Pinch Of Salt Questions and Answers so, make sure to go through that post as well.
Breaking Barriers Questions & Answers
Question 1: Who were India’s first batch of women fighter pilots?
Answer: Avani Chaturvedi, Bhawana Kanth and Mohana Singh were India’s first batch of women fighter pilots.
Question 2: Who all continue to the third stage of training?
Answer: Those who are fit to be fighter pilots continue to the third stage of training.
Question 3: Read the text given below and answer the questions:
“I don’t carry them with me.”
(a) What does the speaker refer to as ‘them’?
Answer: Here, ‘them’ refers to the feelings of achievement and empowerment that Avani might have.
(b) Where does the speaker not ‘carry them’? What does the speaker do then?
Answer: The speaker does not ‘carry them’ inside the cockpit. Once in the cockpit, the speaker has to fully concentrate on the task at hand. Even a split second can make a lot of difference and hence Avani does not have the time to think about anything else.
(c) What does this tell you about the speaker?
Answer: This tells us how Avani is fully focused on what she is doing.
Breaking Barriers Questions & Answers
Question 4: What made Avani’s achievement so extraordinary?
Answer: Women form a very small part of the nearly 1.4 million-strong Indian armed forces. This made Avani’s achievement all the more remarkable.
Question 5: What is Avani’s next goal?
Answer: Avani’s next goal is to become a full-fledged operational pilot.
Question 6: Read the text given below and answer the questions:
“On Avani’s second sorte of the day, during the training, there was a warning as she was preparing to take off.”
(a) Why was there a warning?
Answer: There was a warning because the cockpit cover was open.
(b) What did Avani do then? Was her reaction correct?
Answer: As soon as there was a warning, Avani decided to abort take off. Her reaction was correct for if she had delayed even for a moment or decide to take off without paying attention to the warning, it would have had dangerous consequences.
(c) What did Avani learn from this incident?
Answer: From this incident, Avani realized how, inside the cockpit, the decision made in a split second could get a situation under control or push it out of control.
Breaking Barriers Questions & Answers
Question 7: How are fighter pilots trained in the Indian air force?
Answer: The Indian Air Force has a three-stage process for training pilots. In stage one, pilots have to practice flying in a basic aircraft for 55 hours, while in stage two, they have to practice flying for 87 hours in an advanced jet trainer. After this training, the trainees are separated into different streams, according to what they will be flying – helicopter, transport planes, or fighter jets. Those fit to be fighter pilots, then continue to the third stage of training, in which they have to practice flying for 145 hours in advanced jet trainers. Then, these officers are further trained to fly fighter jets that can go faster than the speed of sound.
Question 8: What happened on February 19, 2018? Why was it so special?
Answer: On 19 February, 2018, a supersonic fighter jet, a MiG-21 Bison, took off from the Jamnagar Air Force station in Gujarat. The fight lasted about thirty minutes and then the jet circled back to land safely. This sortie was special as it was the first solo sortie by flying officer Avani Chaturvedi. At 24 years, she became the first Indian woman to fly a solo sortie on a fighter aircraft.
Question 9: How did Avani progress from stage two to stage three?
Answer: Avani’s progress from the second stage of advanced jet trainers to the third stage of MiG-21 was gradual. She started advanced training in July 2016, completed it in October 2017 and then, got posted to No.23 Squadron, which flies the MiG-21 Bison. It took Avani four months to be able to fly solo.
So, these were Breaking Barriers Questions & Answers.