Ambala, Aug 01: At the age of 73, Defence Minister George Fernandes today became the oldest person to fly a MiG fighter aircraft as he took to the skies to dispel the impression that this class of jets was "flying coffins" for the young IAF pilots. Incidentally, his flight on the nearly 25 year-old single-engine 69-B type MiG 21 came soon after his flying a Sukhoi fighter.
Dressed in the special anti-gravity blue suit worn by fighter pilots to keep blood circulation in control during sudden upward and downward movements of the plane, Fernandes looked unfazed after the 25-minute flight at the speed of 750 km-per-hour at an altitude of four kilometres.
A novice in terms of knowledge about the hi-tech plane systems, the Defence Minister was given certain do's and dont's like how to communicate with the pilot and which switches not to touch during flight.
The fighter took off from the air base here at around 9.45 am in cloudy weather conditions at the speed of 330 kms per hour and performed certain aerobatic manoeuvres like 'wingover', 'barrel-role' and 'steep turn'.
Fernandes was flown by one of the best fighter pilots of the IAF Wing Commander N Harish, commanding officer of 3 squadron, in a latest MiG-21 while another was readied to be a standby in case of any last-minute hitch.
Rated as A-2 qualified instructor, 40-year-old Harish is credited with training the instructor pilots of IAF.
Bureau Report