New Delhi, July 24: After a ride on the Sukhoi, defence minister George Fernandes' flights of fancy may take him on the MIG-21, dubbed as a "flying coffin".
Fernandes wants to allay fears about MIG-21 in the minds of people and said in Lok Sabha that he would fly on a twin-seater fighter plane at the earliest opportunity.
"I had raised the matter with the air chief and a date was fixed but the flight could not materialise because of some engagements," he told Lok Sabha during question hour.
He was replying to a question by national conference chief Omar Abdullah who, in a lighter vein, referred to Fernandes' flight on a Sukhoi as a "safer option" and asked him to fly MIG-21s which had been having a record number of crashes in the recent past.

Abdullah also asked him to take a few of his parliament colleagues along with him when he took the MIG-21 flight but Fernandes said this may not be possible since there would be only a pilot and a "passive pilot" but no passenger.



"I want to assure my young colleague that i will take the flight at the earliest opportunity. It will be in a MIG-21," he said.



The defence minister, who has been to Siachen several times, had earlier flown on the multi-role Sukhoi aircraft and had spent a night in a submarine.


Bureau Report