74th Air Force Day

What do you get when you mix a scintillating and marvelous air show with great trance music. Also when the cheif guest , the Chief Of Air Staff lands , and I mean that literally, lands from an height of close to 7000 m , well thats something just out of the blue ! Yup , this year the Chief of Air Sttaf , Air Chief Marshal SP Tyagi dropped from a helicopter right in before our eyes. Now thats called a heroic entry ! This was the usp of the 74th Air Force Day celebrations. The venue was shifted to Air Force Station Hindan this year die to air space constraints in Palam. With the Air Force entering its platinum year, the need to show our dominance as a strategic Air Power is very important and thats just what we got to see today.

The show kicked of with the Air Warriors receiving the medals of honor by the Chief Of Air Staff. The VSM and VM were awarded along with trophies going to the best Air Force Station. Then stated the Fly Past. First zoomed in the jaguars , displaying their speed and attack capabilities. They were followed by the Mig 23 and Mig 21-bison respectively. Next came the air defense aircrafts , the Mig-29s. The helicopter unit was lead my 2 Mi-35(*absolutely sexy !! ) and the Mi-17 trailing behind. The finale flyby was by the stunning Sukhoi 30 MKI.

After the usual fly past there was a display of combat tactics and operations by a team of commandos and MI-17 helicopters. A MI-17 landed and a jeep came out carrying a team of commandos who simulated a blowing up of enemy resources. A hay stack was made a dummy and was blown up using detonated bombs ! The Chetak then displayed it talent in rescue missions by giving aid to commandos and rescuing a injured commando.

There was then a solo by the Su-30 MKI which confirmed the fact that what an excellent multi role combat aircraft it is. It can fly at speeds 2.5 times that of sound and can also slow down to 200 KMPH. Stalling in midair,vertical dive and loops are are piece of cake walk for this advanced jet.

To brighten up the sky came the Sarang team flying in their peacock painted ALH (Advanced Light Helicopter) or Dhruv. They displayed some of the most unbelievable stunts that a helicopter can do. Flying backwards with excellent precision and acrobatics that made us hold our breath in awe. They flew at high speeds and literally went through each other as part of one of the manoeveres .

The Vixen Break

The grand finale was like always carried out by the SKAT(Surya Kiran Acrobatic team). Plying in their majestic read and white Kiran MK-II the lit the sky ablaze with fire. Being third best acrobatic team in the world, the SCAT have performed in various countries and won hearts of many. Some of their amazing manures are the “Aircraft Bomb burst Loop” the “Heart Loop and Cupid”(*two aircrafts go up in a loop and form a heart while the third cuts across diagonally like an arrow through the heart) and the “Mirror Run”(*one aircraft flies over the other inverted which appears as the mirror image of the first) to name a few. The show ended with all the Surya Kirans landing before us one by one and the last three landing together(*Vic Landing) leaving behind a smoke of the Indian tri-colour on the runway. Claps and Applauses are just not enough for such an event !

See various surya kiran formations

See various surya kirna tricks