Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who became a household name after the aerial battle with Pakistan in February this year, flew a sortie in a MIG-21 on Monday with IAF chief BS Dhanoa at the Pathankot air base. The Chief said after the 30-minute flight in a two-seater MIG-21 that it was an honour for him to fly with Varthaman. He returned to active fighter jet flying about a fortnight back after recovering from injuries sustained during ejecting from his MIG-21 and later captured by the Pakistanis on February 27. He was released and returned to India two days later.
The pilot, who was awarded Veer Chakra on the eve of the Independence Day, foiled an aerial raid by the Pakistani jets when they intruded into India and tried to hit some military installations in Rajouri and Poonch. In the ensuing aerial battle, Varthaman managed to hit an F-16jet of the Pakistan Air Force before his MIG-21 Bison was targeted by air defence of the enemy. The 36-year-old pilot ejected before the plane crashed and captured by the Pakistan Army.
As regards the latest sortie, the Air Chief, who commanded a squadron of frontline ground attack fighters and hit dug in defences during the Kargil war in 1999, flew his last sortie on Mig-21 on Monday as he retires this month end.
“This is my last sortie on a fighter jet. Both of us have two things in common - first, both of us ejected and second, both of us have fought Pakistanis. I fought in Kargil, he fought after Balakot. And third, I’ve flown with his father. It’s an honour for me to do my last sortie in the IAF, in a fighter aircraft, with his son,” the Air Chief Marshal said.
After a pre-flight check, Dhanoa climbed into the front seat while Varthaman, who had shaved off his trademark gunslinger moustaches and instead sporting regular moustache, took the rear seat of the trainer jet, whose controls in the front are replicated in the back. Minutes later, the jet took off into the clear blue September sky above Pathankot at 11.30 am and did some manoeuvres.
The MiG-21, inducted into the IAF more than 40 years back, saw action in the war with Pakistan in 1971 and in Kargil in 1999, flying strike missions and combat air patrols. A MiG-21 piloted by Squadron Leader PK Bundela took down a Pakistani Breguet Atlantique maritime patrol aircraft using a heat-seeking air-to-air missile over the Rann of Kutch in 1999, just after the Kargil conflict. The MIG-21s will start getting phased out later this year or early next year.
