Pratibha Patil makes history by flying in a Sukhoi-30 fighter jet

Assam News · November 25, 2009

Indian President Pratibha Patil on Wednesday successfully flew in a Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jet of the Indian Air Force (IAF). With this Ms Patil became the world’s first woman president to fly in a supersonic fighter plane. Three months earlier the 74-year-old president had expressed her interest to fly in a fighter jet.

Pratibha Patil Sukhoi

The President of India, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, strapped-up and getting ready to go for a sortie on the Sukhoi 30 MKI Fighter Jet at Air Force Station, Pune on November 25, 2009.

On Wednesday, the supersonic Sukhoi 30 jet belonging to the 30 Squadron of IAF took off with Ms Patil from the Lohegaon Air Force Base in Pune. The 30-minute sortie was designed specially for Ms Patil, with the aircraft being flown by Wing Commander S Sajan at the near supersonic speed of mach 0.9 (700-800 km/hr).

Patil’s Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jet was escorted by two additional IAF fighters so she could get a feel of how the fighter planes fly and look in tactical operations. For the event, President wore a ‘G-suit’ instead of her trademark sari. Her flight was broadcast live over national television.

Pratibha Patil is the second Indian President, after her predecessor A P J Abdul Kalam, to fly in a fighter jet. Kalam, the 11th President of India and the father of India’s indigenous missile program, was flown in a Sukhoi in 2006.

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