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Saturday,
August 2, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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George flies high in MiG-21
Ambala, August 1 Clad in brand new flying overalls, anti-g suit, boots and helmet, the minister was strapped to the rear seat of the two-seater Type 69-B aircraft. Flown by the Commanding Officer of No. 3 Squadron, Wg Cdr N. Harish, it took-off at 9.40 am delayed by about two hours due to bad weather and rain. The visibility at the time of the sortie was 5 km and the skies continued to remain overcast, with the sun occasionally trying to see through the cloud cover. The aircraft, after take-off in the direction of the old church adjoining the airfield, overflew parts of Ambala, Kurukshetra and a few small towns. All air traffic in the station’s local flying area was suspended while the minister’s aircraft was airborne, except for a search and rescue Chetak helicopter flying over the airfield, which Air Force officers said was a routine exercise whenever fighter flying is undertaken.Describing the flight as very comfortable, Mr Fernandes, on touchdown, said that he had undertaken the sortie to prove the aircraft’s airworthiness as well as to get a firsthand experience about the problems or difficulties faced by pilots in the cockpit. He said he decided to fly in a MiG-21 after being challenged in Parliament to do so, though he had been wanting to fly in the aircraft for a long time. Mr Fernandes, who had flown in a Su-30 in June, said that in some aspects, the MiG-21 flight was more comfortable.
“I kept speaking to the minister during the flight, asking him if he was comfortable and explaining various parameters of the flight,” Wing Commander Harish, a test pilot and a qualified flying instructor, said. “I felt as if I was flying with one of my own pilots,” he added. He said that considering the minister’s age, he was earlier apprehensive about performing maneuvers but everything went well. A young officer from the squadron, which is the IAF’s oldest squadron, Flt-Lt Ajay Ahlawat, said that as a pilot he was thrilled about the minister flying in the MiG-21. “It is a tremendous morale booster,” he remarked. He added that safety precaution undertaken for this sortie were the same as for any other sortie. Asserting that safety is non-negotiable, he said the only difference was that a stand-by aircraft and an extra set of ground crew were at hand.  |
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Wing Commander Harish said that they flew at an altitude of 5,000 metres and touched a speed of 750 km per hour, though they did not break the sound barrier. He said that maneuvers performed included barrel-roll, wing overroll and steep turns.