Abhinav Bindra's Fantasy Flight

First Indian to win an Olympic gold medal Abhinav Bindra took a free ride in a Lockheed Martin 'F-16IN' during the Aero India international air show 2009 at the Yelahanka air force base in the month of February, 2009.

After a sortie for more than 45 minutes Abhinav Bindra claimed it to be the best thing he has experienced after winning the gold medal in Olympics.
''Words cannot explain the excitement I underwent in those 45 minutes on board the F16IN. It was simply ecstatic and I'm still coming to terms with the experience. It was probably similar to what I felt when I won the Olympic Gold last August,'' Said Bindra.

The fourth generation F-16IN is in race for the IAF order floated to induct 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) into its depleting fleet and as a replacement in phases to the ageing Russian-made MiG-21 fighters.
At the controls of the 'F-16IN' was Lockheed's test-pilot Paul 'Bear' Randall, who has clocked 4,500 hours of flying time on various F-16 models.

"We went away from the airfield, pulled off a lot of Gs, up to 6.5 Gs. We did some maneuvers like turns and rolls. And we flew past the clouds at 20,000 feet and almost hit the speed of sound,'' Randall said, giving 10/10 to the gold medalist.
Bindra also had the privilege of manning the flight for a few minutes. "I felt I was in able hands,'' the pilot said about giving the controls to Bindra.

Below are the pictures taken by me before his take off.


Abhinav Bindra being told how to step into and step out of a cockpit at the Aero India International Air Show. After a Reassuring smile from Abhinav Bindra he was asked to come down and and few more tips were given to him before he took the co-pilot ladder to take his seat in the F-16In fighter jet craft.






Abhinav Bindra after taking the co-pilot seat and the helmet on he wavs to the waiting media before the pilot hops on to whizzz him in air for 45 minutes.






Abhinav Bindra waves to the F-16In ground staff from the co-pilot seat, even as the doors to the cockpit closes, then stares into the setting sun for a few moments, looks up towards the sky for an quite prayer before checking the gap between his head and the cockpit's closed door even as he keeps plugging on the oxygen mask on to his nose.
Though Abhinav Bindra looked very nervous he put up an brave face by not looking at the media but instead kept his nerves like the way he displayed while winning the Olympic Gold.

And then finally Abhinav Bindra the first Indian Olympic Medal winner leaves land in an supersonic F-16In fighter jet craft to touch the unlimited parts of the Bangalore skies.