President Patil creates history; takes off in Sukhoi

Patil,who has also become the oldest woman to fly in a warplane,posed for photographs on the tarmac with the pilot,who has over 3200 hours of flying experience,top officers and the aircraft maintenance staff.

Shortly after landing,the President was driven to a rest house where she underwent a medical check up. Before taking off,Patil was briefed about emergency exit procedures and various parameters of the flight in the Sukhoi-30 aircraft of city-based 30 squadron,the ‘Rhinos’.

Patil is the second President to fly in a fighter aircraft after A P J Abdul Kalam who was flown at speeds a few notches below supersonic levels for 30 minutes without sharp manoeuvres also from the Lohegaon airbase.

Patil,who was seated in the co-pilot’s seat in the aircraft,had donned a ‘G-suit’ worn by fighter pilots to counter the gravitational effects due to high speed manoeuvres.

A Sukhoi,India’s most advanced fighter plane,can carry eight tonnes of armaments and fly over 3000 kms with onboard fuel and can undertake an extended journey of upto 5000 kms with a single air-to-air refuelling.

The aircraft flying the President,who is the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces,was accompanied by two other Sukhoi jets which flew in a formation.

A special red-carpet welcome was given to Patil before she got into the cockpit wearing a helmet and the gear donned by fighter pilots.

The jet flew at a speed of about 0.9 Mach which is few notches below the supersonic levels starting at one Mach which is about 1,236 km per hour. Kalam was flown in a Sukhoi in 2006.

The pre-flight medical test had given the President a green signal for undertaking the journey.