Vasanth Dharmaraj’s Blog

President APJ Abdul Kalam, 74 year old, flew in a Sukhoi 30 MKI fighter jet today! Amazing. I saw the takeoff live on TV. Kalam used to be an aerospace and defense scientist. He was very excited sitting in the cockpit and wanted to know about all the controls and dials. Wing Commander Ajay Rathore, Commanding Officer of the SU-30 MKI squadron was the pilot. He patiently explained the stuff to the President.

The President saluted the crowd of officers and press and took off in the 40 minute supersonic ride. The twin-seater advanced fighter jet can re-fuel in mid-air, and is a
multi-roll fighter with a top speed of mach 2 plus and a range of over
2500 km. The jet is built in India under Russian license. The President flew at a speed of 15,000 km per hour to a height of about 25,000 feet

The President’s comments after the ride:

“I was not at all nervous, there was no time to
be nervous,” President Kalam told this correspondent soon after landing
back at the airbase. “Rathore guided me well.“

“After
flying this sortie, I know realise that India is in safe hands, our
borders are safe. We have such good pilots, and good defence personnel.“

I am proud of our President. Just a month ago he was on board an Indian Navy diesel-electric submarine. Great going.