Denmark's first female fighter pilot takes to the skies on her first solo flight today. The 27 year-old Line Bonde is the first Danish woman to man the cockpit of an F-16.
Bonde, from the northern Jutland town of Billund, will be whizzing through the skies at up to 2152 km per hour later today. She has been training in an F-16B, a combat-capable, two-seat training version of the F-16.
Bonde was the first female fighter pilot to join the Royal Danish Air Force. She graduated from the military flight school at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas, USA, on 23 September last year. Upon returning to Denmark's Skrydstrup Air Base in Jutland, Bonde joined the training squadron before moving up to the operational squadron.
The Netherlands and Norway were among the first European countries to allow women to pilot fighter planes some ten years ago.
Women had previously not been permitted to be fighter pilots, because there was a risk that if they were unaware that they were pregnant, they could harm the foetus during violent combat manoeuvres that expose the body to extreme G-forces. |