Tag: iaf

My First Flight as a Trainee Pilot (Flight Cadet)

Anil Goyal

 “Sometimes, flying feels too God-like to be attained by man. Sometimes, the world from above seems too beautiful, too wonderful, too distant for human eyes to see.” Charles A. Lindbergh Growing up in India in the 1980s that too in tier II city, I would have been lucky if I got a chance to travel on a plane. Almost every child I had met, dreamt about becoming a pilot. Maybe this was just because we wanted to fly and reach the clouds above, or because we saw in cartoons and…

Women Officer of IAF: Outstretching for the Crest

Anil Goyal

I will come again and conquer you because as a mountain you can’t grow…. But as a human, I can. Sir Edmund Hillary Mount Everest, Sanskrit and Nepali Sagarmatha, Tibetan Chomolungma, Chinese (Pinyin) Zhumulangma Feng or (Wade-Giles romanization) Chu-mu-lang-ma Feng, also spelt Qomolangma Feng, mountain on the crest of the Great Himalayas of southern Asia that lies on the border between Nepal and the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, at 27°59′ N 86°56′ E. Reaching an elevation of 29,035 feet (8,850 metres), Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world. Sqn Ldr Toolika Rani (Retd) women officer of Indian Air Force has scaled many heights, including Mt…

Formation Aerobatics Display Team: SKAT

Anil Goyal

Even the winds stop to stare at their daring acts. The formation aerobatic team and their gravity-defying feats at zipping speeds. Loop, barrel rolls, rolls, clovers, roll of top and hard turns every manoeuvre that is hard to fathom is done in perfect precision and position. In this article, we will meet one of the members of this team. I freely admit that learning this stuff is tenuous and demanding – even harder than being married. Two aircraft close formation – which is much easier and simpler would give me…

LANDING AT THE WORLD’S HIGHEST AIRSTRIP AT 16500 FT : DAULAT BEG OLDIE (DBO)

Anil Goyal

Daulat Beg Oldi (also Oldie, DBO) is a historic campsite and current military base located in Ladakh, India on an ancient trade route connecting Ladakh to the Tarim Basin. It is named after Sultan Said Khan (Daulat Beg), who died here on his return journey after the invasion of Ladakh and Kashmir. The Chip Chap River flows just to the south of Daulat Beg Oldi from east to west. Daulat Beg Oldi also has one of the world’s highest airstrips which is one of India’s Advance Landing Ground (ALG), at an altitude of 5,065 meters (16,614 feet).

How Daulat Beg Oldi Airstrip was Revived by IAF

Anil Goyal

Daulat Beg Oldi (also Oldie, DBO) is a historic campsite and current military base located in Ladakh, India on an ancient trade route connecting Ladakh to the Tarim Basin. It is named after Sultan Said Khan (Daulat Beg), who died here on his return journey after the invasion of Ladakh and Kashmir. The Chip Chap River flows just to the south of Daulat Beg Oldi from east to west. Daulat Beg Oldi also has one of the world’s highest airstrips which is one of India’s Advance Landing Ground (ALG), at an altitude of 5,065 meters (16,614 feet).

The Story of Missing Locking Wire…

Anil Goyal

Failure to properly secure aircraft components can compromise powerplant and control system operation, leading to system and component failures. Properly secure aircraft components with safety wire, ensure that hardware locking mechanisms are properly installed on your aircraft, and check them often to confirm they are taut and ready for flight

Air to Air Refuelling: Pilot’s Perspective, My Story

Anil Goyal

Air refueling is the process of transmitting aviation fuel from one military aircraft to another during flight. The procedure lets the receiving aircraft to stay in the air longer, extending its range or loiter time on station. Its purpose is quite simple, but there are a number of amazing things that happen in and around the process. Here is one of the stories, which somehow did not go wrong. Before that let us look at aeromedical aspects involved in air-to-air refuelling.

What Airline Pilots need to know about difference in bird and drone strike?

Anil Goyal

US Airways flight 1549 presents a single most illustrious example of the kind of damage a bird strike can cause and piloting-skill required to be able to bring out everyone safely from a disastrous situation. Birds are intelligent species which have natural instinct to survive and avoid a collision while in the air or on the ground. With their sharp vision and quick decisive ability, they are able to avert not only other avian traffic but also human-made obstacle and flying objects. Differences between drone and birds. 1.   For the same…

MiG 21: Love her OR Hate her?

Anil Goyal

The most widely produced supersonic jet fighter of all time, the MiG-21 (Western reporting name Fishbed) is an incredibly prolific aircraft. Dated but nimble, it has allowed skilled pilots in past decades to defeat more advanced aircraft. Though its days look to be numbered. To me, it does not. I think it will continue to live in the heart of pilots and adversaries alike for decades to come. Single-seat, single-engine, supersonic, all-weather, day-night capable, jet fighter aircraft produced by the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau was an improvement on prior generations of…