Defying age, IAF chief Birender Singh Dhanoa on Thursday flew a Mig-21 solo during a visit to Utarlai forward airbase in Rajasthan. Rare for a senior officer to fly a fighter jet due to inherent risks involved, he undertook the sortie for nearly 30 minutes and touched down in a smooth manner.
Having assumed charge of the IAF on December 31 last year, Dhanoa flew the plane during his first visit to the forward operational base. Normally, senior officers refrain from combat flying solo due to various factors brought about by age, officials said Dhanoa was found flying fit to undertake the sortie.
Incidentally, Dhanoa, who started his career 40 years back by flying MIG-21s, the oldest fighter planes in the IAF inventory, had flown the same type of aircraft during Kargil operations in 1999 and carried out many night strike missions in the difficult and dangerous mountainous terrain. He was awarded Yudh Sewa medal for these gallant acts.
He is also the first IAF chief to fly solo since then top boss AY Tipnis under took similar solo sorties in a MIG-21 at Bareilly airbase more than 15 years back. At that time, IAF was facing flak for flying MIG-21s which had seen a spate of mishaps.
Then Defence Minister George Fernandes also flew in a two-seater MIG-21 at Ambala airbase in those days in a bid to allay apprehensions about the safety record of MIG-21s. President APJ Abdul Kalam and Pratibha Patil also flew in a twin-seater SU-30, the frontline fighter jet of IAF.
Dhanoa flew the MIG-21 on Thursday during his first visit to a forward operational airbase since taking over as IAF chief, officials said here. He will be there till Saturday to take stock of operational readiness of the IAF in the western sector facing Pakistan.