- While her father was a fighter pilot, grandfather was a retired Group Captain
NE NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, DEC 31
With wings of fire, a Noida girl took off smoothly to become a fighter pilot of the IAF on December 17, 2022 like her dad and grandpa.
Maitrayi Nigam, a 24-year-old girl, from Noida in Uttar Pradesh carries the family mantle, by becoming the third generation Air Force officer. While her father was a fighter pilot, grandfather was a retired Group Captain.
Right from her 10th Grade, she wanted to continue the family legacy. Growing up in a military household, she always dreamt of becoming a fighter pilot, like her father Rtd. Wing Cdr Amit Nigam. Maitrayi completed her schooling from Lal Bahadur Shastri School, R K Puram in New Delhi and joined Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women to pursue her BTech in Electronics and Communications.
While in the university, she prepared for the AFCAT and SSB exams. Maitrayi choose the military lifestyle and left her MBA at MICA, Ahmedabad. Her rigour and passion to serve her country and her community has always fuelled her actions.
She was a part of multiple outreach programmes as well as a member of the Delhi Rotary Club during her university days.
Her aims to continue to make her country and family proud by serving the nation as a commissioned Air Force Fighter pilot became true on the 17th of December 2022.
May she always touch the sky with glory and motivate more girls to join the IAF.
Earlier, three generations of the Chandigarh-based Sodhis have served in the IAF, beginning with Flight Lieutenant Angad Singh Sodhi’s grandfather, Wing Commander Bhupender Singh Sodhi, who had joined the IAF’s administration and legal branch, in November 1949..
