Tag: india

LONG DURATION MISSION: FIGHTER AIRCRAFT

Anil Goyal

The flight endurance record though no longer recognized used to be the longest amount of time an aircraft of a particular category spent in flight without landing. It can be a solo event, or multiple people can take turns piloting the aircraft, as long as all pilots remained in the aircraft. The limit initially was the amount of fuel that could be stored for the flight, but aerial refuelling extended that parameter. Flying modern fighter aircraft requires a high degree of physical and mental fitness to withstand the stresses that are placed on the…

Fighter Strike Leader of IAF

Anil Goyal

“Four brave men who do not know each other will not dare attack a lion. Four less brave, but knowing each other well, sure of their reliability and consequently of mutual aid, will attack resolutely.”  Col. Ardant du Picq Through two world wars, as technology improved, modern war has become more and more reliant on airpower. Tactics are continuously evolved and modified for quick success in aerial combat as well as for victorious strike mission. Did you ever wonder, how a group of fighter aircraft are forged into lethal weapons?…

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…

Light Transport Aircraft: Saras

Anil Goyal

Named Saras, after the Indian crane known for its grace and beauty in flight, the Light Transport Aircraft (LTA) has the design objective of being able to carry between eight and 14 passengers and extendable to an 18-passenger variant, in multiple modes of operation.  The flight-testing expertise and resources in India have matured adequately to undertake prototype flight-testing. The Light Transport Aircraft (LTA) program, SARAS a turboprop aircraft being developed indigenously by National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) of Government of India, is the first civil aircraft program aimed at certification standard,…

My First Air Travel Experience

Anil Goyal

 “I believe that if one always looked at the skies, one would end up with wings.” Gustave Flaubert In autumn 1992, I was 20 going on 21; the “going on” part is important to emphasize for various reasons. I was sixth termer, an ordinary cadet of the prestigious National Defense Academy (NDA), Pune about to graduate in a few weeks. During the 3 years of training at National Defense Academy, we had been turned into “Jack of all trade but master of none”. It was only in the last term…

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…

First Love

Anil Goyal

Being the wife of a military officer is hard you have got to be OKAY with a lot of stuff which is not normal. It is very demanding and comes with its pleasures as well as pains. You have to got to hold it together personally socially and professionally. Rarely things go as planned. It may or seem surreal. Your role may seem old fashioned. The bottom line is: Military life is a life of sacrifice, however large or small, for service members and their families. Presenting a poem by Mrs Lakshmi Mini. Dedicated…

Marching Ahead, Women Officers of Indian Armed Forces!

Anil Goyal

Employment of women in the Indian Armed Forces is a practice that has been adopted in the last just over two and a half decades. However, as a concept, it is neither new nor novel as is evident from history which is replete with examples all over the world. Indian Air Force inducts women in all roles, including combat and support roles. As of September 2020, there were 1,875 female officers serving in the IAF, including 10 pilots and 18 navigators. The number of women joining armed forces is steadily…

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…