METAL BIRDS

I should accept the fact tat I was bit lazy to get the tickets for the air show which I wanted to go. And as expected when I went to canara bank and asked for the ticket there were no tickets left out. I felt very bad but I spoke to my cousin Anirudh who studies in MVIT next to the Yelahanka defense aerodrome, so I thought of going over there and watching the air show from his hostel top.

What an airshow I think its for the first time both US and Russia have shown their powers at a single air show. This years air show had maximum attraction for many reasons like India is one of the biggest market for defense products and also a very ambitious project of Indian air force of acquiring around 6 billion dollar worth 126 advanced fighter jets, The deal is soooo fascinating that even the US couldn’t hold back and pitched in their F-16 and F-18 for the show, I think they might have entered the Indian air space for the first time. Ratan Tata had a good experience on both the F-16 and F-18 but what stole my attraction was the total new Mig-35 which had come for the first time and my favorite Sukio.

I left my home early at around 10am and reached through the horrible traffic near the airfield to my cousin’s college. He was waiting for me as the morning show had just begun. I was going on the road and the Sukio just flew over my head, the sound was so strong that I felt my hand was shaking while driving my bike I had to slow down a bit, the fighter plan flew very low what an amazing view, I wished I could have taken a snap of the same..

After a brief view of the Swedish Gripen, F-16 and F-18 I went for lunch with my cousin at his hostel mess, some how I managed to disguise as a student and had food with my cousin. After a small break at his room we ran back to the show which was about to begin.

The afternoon show began with the Swedish Gripen, it was good show but I felt this plan was not the 4^th generation plan but was a good plane compared to the old fleet we have Mig-21s and Mig-29s. Through out the show this plane left a white tail to read his maneuvers it was good show by the pilot.

This was followed by one of my favorite of the airshow Mig-35, it started with a very small run up and a big thunder….zooooom once in the sky there was no limit for its stunts… it was very difficult for me to capture photos from my camera , He did great stunts like going totally vertical to the ground then giving a free fall from the top, amazing stunts… I was just thinking about how best these pilots has to be to do all these, how stable his mind has to be? Even a bit of arrogance or even a bit of different thought can change anything….this had great speeds it had reached from Moscow to Bangalore in 3hrs. It was coated with red and blue colours

This was followed by my favorite Sukio, I don’t know but I am a big fan of this plan.. may be because of its design or looks, It’s a huge fighter jet, “75” was written on the back of the plane. The speed, the design , the looks everything of this metal bird fascinates me a lot, it’s a dream for me to sit in this plane lets c!

There was a big …big very big US military transport vehicle as well I got a good view of the same. I did not like much of F-16 or F-18 because this looked more like our own Mig-29s. I did not think it was a match for either Sukio or Mig-35.

The last was the acrobatic team of surya kiran I should really appreciate these pilots for the amount of risk they take in day to day life a fraction short or a mistake and I belive all 9 planes will be on ground. Its hard to explain these man overs I have got some photos of the same I only can put up the same.

At the end it was a hard day for me standing in the sun for the whole day and had to come back home on that horrible traffic was tiered and exhausted, just had food and slept early. But one thing I regretted a lot was if I had gone to the airshow stall I could have got the tickets! I did not know about this and missed an opportunity…..