VIP's who Came and Took Free Rides at Aero India 2009

This Aero India International air show witnessed a whole lot of VIP and special guests queuing up to take an close look or be taken for a free or paid ride by the Four main contenders for the multi billion dollar 126 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) by the Indian Air Force.
The four companies were Lockheed Martin builders of the F16-IN Super Viper, the Alenia Aeronautical, BAE Systems, and EADS, the consortium of three separate partner companies who are the builders of the Euro fighter Typhoon and The Mcdonnell Douglas (now Boeing), the builders of the F-18 Hornet and of course where there are two USA companies one cannot count the Russians out with their main jet company Mikoyan the builders of the MIG-35, the 4.5 generation fighter jets on the fray.The queue was never going to end with the list growing by the day and the frenzy media on their toe, (me included too).
First to start the list was Suman Sharma who took the wings on an F-16In Super Sonic jet followed by her joy and free ride on the F-18 and the MIG-35. All this she had claimed to the media was that she was undergoing training for the last two years and had applied for the same in the previous edition of the Aero India in 2007.
Suman created a flutter in the media circle with her flying ambition taking on new heights by flying on all three fighter jets during the five day Aero India International air show, in Feb 2009.




Suman Sharma the first Indian woman civilian co-pilot shows a thumps up sign to the media, before her sojourn on the MIG-35 at the Aero India International air Show at the Air force station in Bangalore. Suman had earlier flew in the F-16In Super Sonic Jet and the F-18 Hornet during the 5 day aero show.




After Suman Sharma's fantasy with the F-16In jets, the next turn for the Lockheed Martin company to put another big face on it's combat aircraft was Abhinav Bindra the first Indian Gold Medalist in the Olympics. Though Bindra looked tense before the take off he was relaxed after his return to the ground.
To read more on Abhinav Bindra's Fantasy flight follow the below link.
Scroll down or http://shivselvan.blogspot.com/2009/03/abhinav-bindras-fantasy-flight.html

To quickly react to the situation was the Boeing Company the builders of the F-18 Hornet Combat fighters by roping in former Indian Air Force retired Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma, who had the distinction of becoming the first Indian to touch space and also roping in Naveen Jindal the sitting Member of Parliament from the Congress Party. This proved that the Boeing Company had credibility in their choice to voice their Combat aircraft’s stealth and also to promote their deal with the Indian Air force and the defense ministry through these two persons with professional and knowledge on the subject as their forte.

Experience shows: Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma inside the cockpit of the F-18 Hornet before his 45 minute fantasy flight and later talking to the media and smiling to affirmatively say that this flight was good but not as good as seeing the earth from the Soyuz -T11 Russian space shuttle, but quickly added that the F-18 Hornet are good and easy to handle Combat aircraft so that he keeps the promoters Boeing on the good sheet.

The Ruling National UPA Government's main party Indian National Congress sitting Member of Parliament Naveen Jindal inside the cockpit of the F-18 Super Hornet combat aircraft during the Aero India International air show 2009, in Bangalore. Jindal looked very tense and had asked the flight commanders for various sitting positions and also wanted to know more about the fighter jet, and waved a cheerful goodbye to his wife before touching the skies with the speed of sound, and later to update his party members of the F-18 Super Hornet.

Through out this show the US based builders of the F-16In and the F-18 kept the media busy with the special guests appearing for their special flight, while the Russian Company Mikoyan the builders of MIG-35 and the Alenia Aeronautical, BAE Systems, and EADS the builders of the Eurofighter Typhoon kept an low profile, while show casing the stealth and high speed maneuvers of their product through their own well trained fighter pilots.



The Eurofighter Typhoon had the Air Chief Marshall of Germany, Deputy Chief of Air Staff from Spain, Britain and Romania to push their case for the big deal with the Indian Air Force at the Aero Show 2009, in Yelhanka Air force Base. The Pilots did some splendor maneuvers to the visitors, to keep their chance of bagging the contract.

While the MIG-35 team kept everyone on the tender hooks with the easy vertical climb and fall and also the highly trained pilots had a few master strokes up their sleeve to sell their product to the Indian Air Force which is filled with The Russian MIG's.


The Russian fighter test pilots put the MIG-35 to the limits while performing highly dangerous multiple barrel rolls and also did some extra ordinary vertical climbs at top speed followed by the vertical fall at a rather slow speed. What took the cake from this team was the 'Cobra sting maneuver' which is that the plane takes to a vertical high, then made to float vertically with the engines off and all of sudden the engines come on and they dive leaving behind a line of smoke of which look similar to the sting of an cobra.

Well after all this glitz and glamour hope the Indian Government go for the Combat fighter jests which will be cost effective with no kick backs as seen in most defense deals all over the world.