Tag: Indian Navy

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…

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…

Air Shows and Display Pilot!

Anil Goyal

An air show is a public event where aircraft are exhibited. They include a static display, aerobatics demonstrations. The event is also simultaneously held as business ventures, and trade events where the aerospace and defense industry is promoted. Flying displays are some of the most popular spectator events in the world. It is estimated that flying displays and similar events attract over 10 million spectators each year. The companies use the display to entice the public and create an opinion. The display pilot plays a very important role where he/she showcases not only the aircraft profile but…

Intrepid Pilot: Test Pilot

Anil Goyal

In the case of pilots, it is a little touch of madness that drives us to go beyond all known bounds. Any search into the unknown is incomparable exploitation of oneself. Jacqueline Auriol Living on the edge, reaching his limit, seeing the world in rare angles and heights is all too often part of the test pilot job. Today we will meet Gp Capt Sharad Aneja (Retd) an intrepid test pilot who will tell us all about this fascinating world. He spent precious 24 years in the IAF, not to…

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).

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…