Ambala, Aug 01: Trying to dispel its reputation as "flying coffins", Defence Minister George Fernandes today flew a 25-minute sortie on a MiG-21 and later declared that the fighter jets are the mainstay of the air force which would be phased out gradually. The 73-year-old minister, who had been under attack in Parliament and outside in the wake of a spate of crashes involving MiGs, told reporters after the sortie in cloudy weather that MiG-21 cannot be compared to the modern aircraft as they were purchased 50 years ago.
Fernandes said he enjoyed the flight, adding it was comfortable in some ways more than the Sukhoi considering MiG-21 is an old aircraft.

However, the defence minister, who did a similar sortie in one of the newly acquired Sukhoi aircraft from Pune, said there would be a gradual phase out of MiGs but no time frame was going to be fixed.
"Gradual phase out is necessary as there can be MiGs which were procured more than 50 years ago.... Not all mig21s as they are the mainstay of combat aircraft today," the minister, wearing a blue force overall, said.
The take off was delayed by two hours following rain in the morning and was undertaken under cloudy conditions over Kurukshetra and other towns of Haryana. When asked by a questioner whether what he was doing was only a show, the minister replied curtly, "I will not respond to this."
Bureau Report