"It's GOOD to be King!"
If I were King...I would have my schedule full:
Monday: All day in an M1 with all the ammo I want.
Tuesday: F-15E with as many missles and bombs as I desire, and lots of nice fat things full of fuel on the ground.
Wednesday: USS New Jersey, gunnery practice against some old oil tankers.
Thursday: Explosives day. As much C4 as I want. Big stacks of it. And lots of open space. Or maybe some high rise buildings I have obtained from rich liberals who have been put in jail for treason. Or maybe just their houses.
Friday: Los Alamos day, of course. The welding goggles are ready. We could cover a nuke with a bunch of watermelons to see what happens...:)
Saturday: I have an F-22 and get to go head to head with poor saps in F-15's and F-16's. Just to stroke my ego.
Sunday: Carrier day. We do cats and traps, supersonic flybys at 50 feet, fire some Harpoons at old Pakistani warships. Have barbecue and beer on the flight deck to some really loud rock and roll music over the 1MC.
Kalam on Wings of Fire
On Thursday, President A P J Abdul Kalam, supreme commander of the armed forces, fulfilled a childhood dream when he became the first Indian Head of State to fly a fighter plane.
"I always wanted to be an Air Force pilot but was rejected in 1958 and therefore I became a scientist," the 74-year-old Kalam said soon after his 40-minute supersonic flight on a Sukhoi-30 MKI at the Lohegaon Air Force base in Pune on July 8. The President's flight marked the airbase?s 50th anniversary.
Image: President A P J Abdul Kalam in the cockpit of the Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter plane before takeoff at the Lohegaon Air Force base in Pune.
The Sukhoi-30 MKI with its special payload took off at 10.30 am even as hundreds of Indian Air Force officers and some three dozen journalists watched. Kalam co-piloted the plane with Wing Commander Ajay Rathore, commanding officer of the Lightning Squadron based at Lohegaon.
The President had called on Commander Rathore on May 18 when he was given instructions on what he needs to do as co-pilot and how to operate a fighter plane.
Last night when he arrived in Pune, he was again briefed and given a demonstration about how the flight would go.
This morning half a dozen IAF pilots accompanied Kalam to the aircraft and gave him further instructions before takeoff.
Before taking off, the President was given a guard of honour and met senior defence officials. He then went on to change into the G-suit required on the Sukhoi.
The G-Suit is an anti-gravitational suit and helps in proper blood circulation when the flight flies at supersonic speeds.
The President's day began with a light breakfast. Two hours later he had to undergo flight training exercises.
When the time for the flight came, President Kalam calmly waved out to the assembled crowd and got into the cockpit.
Image: President Kalam boarding the Sukhoi; (inset) With Wing Commander Ajay Rathore who piloted the
On his return, when asked whether he was nervous, President Kalam quipped: "There was no time to be nervous."
"I went up. I went down. I took right and left turns," he said in his typical childlike manner. "I did every thing that Commander Rathore told me to do. He is a great teacher. I feel proud that our country has such great and good pilots."
Asked about the purpose of the entire exercise, he said, "I want to give a message to young Indians that they should join the Indian Air Force. They should be adventurous and feel proud of our defence forces. We have a great team of IAF pilots and after flying today I am proud to say that our country is in safe hands."
Before the President's plane took off, two other Sukhois demonstrated the aircraft's mid-air combat capabilities.
Since passing out of the Madras Institute of Technology where he specialized in aeronautical engineering, Kalam had been associated with avionics. In particular, he was deeply involved with the country's Light Combat Aircraft project. A year ago, he visited the Sukhoi design bureau in Moscow where he held discussions on a fifth-generation aircraft.
Image: The President all geared-up, wearing an oxygen mask before take-off.
The President's flight went into twists and turns and also stalled mid-air in order to give him a first-hand experience of the fighter plane's capabilities.
When told to comment on what he saw from above, the President joked, "The sky was looking blue everywhere. The plane was travelling at a great speed. During the twists and turns I too had to help out in operating the flight, so the only thing I remembered in mid-air was that the colour of the sky was blue."
The President was also shown how the planes acquire targets and shoot. He was also shown by Commander Rathore how to spot enemy ground targets.
Image: The Sukhoi-30 with the President onboard takes off
Asked what they spoke about on the flight, Rathore said, "I was giving him more technical instructions on how to operate the plane. He also told me how eager he was to fly an Air Force plane since his childhood."
When told to sum up his feelings, Rathore said, "I am happy that I was the chosen one for this duty. It's one of the proudest moments of my life. He is a scientist and he has helped our country to move ahead in defence. I am proud to do this service for him and our country."
After landing, the President was treated to combat exercises by IAF squadrons.
An hour later as he waved goodbye he said, "I feel proud to tell every Indian that they are in very safe hands and our borders are very well protected and there is no danger from any enemy."
[Clad in the flying gear of a fighter pilot and sporting a cap with the Air Force insignia, the President narrated his experience to the assembled media. “I pushed to the left and pushed to the right, then went up and down. Everything is so beautiful from the top,” he said.]
I admit it's always fun having experiences like this, but it's usually considered gauche to brag about it to the newspapers the next day.
The Flanker, the only Russian plane with a positive combat record, 2-0, (ironically two Mig-29s) and the only recent Russian fighter with kills. About time the Indians got rid of their POS Migs. Of course they may buy hornets soon.
This president, to his credit, is a far cry from Mohandas Gandhi's technology-loathing primitivism; he embraces technology and personally enjoys it -- apparently also encouraging innovation among India's youth. A man like that will probably not interfere to thwart India's rapid Westernization and technological progress.
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