Hyderabad. 17 June 2018. Chikmanglur is known for the finest coffee, beautiful nature and waterfalls. From now onwards, it would be known for giving India another woman fighter pilot, first from south of Vindhyas and also from the Karnataka. All other fine woman fighter pilots who were commissioned earlier in the IAF hailed from various states of MP, Rajasthan, Bihar and UP. Flying Officer Meghana Shanbough was born in Chikmanglur in a family of lawyers.
Her father MK Ramesh is a practicing lawyer and mother Smt SC Shobha is presently serving as a judge in the District Consumer Forum, Udupi. She had her schooling at Little Rock Indian School a boarding school in Brahmavar, Udipi. She did engineering in Information Science and Engineering from Sri Jaya Chamarajendra College of Engineering, Mysore from 2011-15.
After having joined in January 2017 in the Flying branch at Air Force Academy, she was cleared for flying in fighter stream in a trifurcation board in December 2017. She will be the sixth woman fighter pilot to be inducted in the IAF. After her graduation in 2015, she did basic mountaineering course form Manali and Para gliding at Goa during 2016, before joining IAF.
