Jaguar Flight

 My first flight in Jaguar Aircraft

Having a flight has become a normal routine of life which was not about two decades back. But having a flight in a fighter aircraft is an opportunity of lifetime for few who are not in IAF. When I filled up forms of NDA I had filled Air Force as my first choice impressed with the flying Jaguars while my father was posted at Halwara during my teens. As luck would have for me I joined Army and at the end of my career before retirement I somehow got a chance to have my first flight in it at last though as a pillion rider. 

I was briefed for a day on various instructions I was to follow and actions in case of emergency right from wearing the G flying suit, controls of aircraft in brief and ejection procedure in detail. It was too complicated to comprehend in a day so I focussed barely on essentials. At the end of his briefing I asked the young officer pilot briefing me (recalling the state of air hostess who controlled the passenger aircraft after its pilot fell unconscious in the movie Airport- 75),

How to come down safely if the pilot becomes unconscious due to ABCD reason?

Perplexed by my question he was spell bound and gave wavy answers finding it difficult to explain the technical actions to a novice in such a short time. To ease him I asked, What would you do if you were in my place and were not a pilot? 

He replied, 'I will leave it to God'

I did not question him further and our briefing was over with smiles exchanged.

 I was then taken to pilots crew room where lot of flying suits were hung  on hangars with equipments displayed. I tried a few of them for marking the one I was to wear on the D day. Then came the safety jacket which were of two types: one for landing by parachute on land and the other one for landing in sea to remain afloat this being much heavier. The young pilot adviced me to wear the lighter one as the heavier one spoils all the comfort putting me in confusion; How will I swim to safety with non floating jacket meant for land with  buckles and straps all around me so complex to open for a novice while in water ?  However after wearing both I decided to wear the lighter one preferring to sacrifice some safety to comfort as it was going to be a pleasure of lifetime which I did not wanted to compromise.

Then we proceeded towards the aircraft hanger to see the prototype aircraft for understanding the ejection procedure. I noticed the lever handle which was to be pulled touching it lightly to have a feel of how just by pulling it Rs 200 crores go into the dustbin with risk of two lives sending a chill to my spine. 'It is not armed,' said the pilot 'but after it is armed it is ready to shoot with the rockets placed under the seat. You just have to sit in an erect position and the rest the designed system will take care of'. 

On the D day I was told to reach the pilot crew room around 0600h in the morning. I had a sumptuous breakfast in the crew room, relieved myself and put on the selected G suit as earlier.  Their Commanding Officer arrived later and I was asked to follow him to the aircraft. While walking on the tarmac he confirmed if I had been briefed and I replied in affirmative fearing he does not get into technical jargon to confirm. 90% of the briefing was on ejection. I had no idea how to fly it independently and was like a fresh car learner. I satisfied myself with the thought that it was a joyride for me otherwise I would have been pilot myself if I knew how to fly solo.

The beautiful Jaguar aircraft with aggressive look was ready with airmen around it waiting  for us to embark with its open cockpit and ladder placed to  mount on it in a welcoming gesture. The pilot mounted on the front seat and I followed as his pillion rider. He assumed that I was well briefed and welcomed me while sitting in the cockpit. The ear speakers were connected and he called me through headphones waving his hands through a small reflecting mirror I searched for his face as could hear him say time and again,

'Look here' . I searched all around and after finding a small mirror with his smiling face focussed on it. He continued 

  'In case of  emergency you will eject first then I will after you. We will continue our talks on this headphone'

I felt a chill when the young pilot standing on the ladder outside reminded me of the ejection lever indicating that it is armed now and I should be  careful. 

I kept on thinking why they keep on focusing on ejection procedure time and again as it diverted my mind from enjoyable to serious mode.

Soon the canopy closed with a thud and it was locked airtight with no outside sound coming in. The engines roared, but the sound in headphone was clear. The oxygen mask came live when I could hear my own breathe different from the natural one in open air. I could hardly move my neck to left or right with ease due to so many straps and buckles fixed all over me like akin to ECG chords. I adjusted the  helmet visor preferring to keep the transparent one over the dark to have a natural view. Soon I could feel the aircraft move and it was confirmed when everyone outside started showing their thumbs up to us indicating best of luck. I responded along with the pilot feeling on top of the world. We moved out of hangar on to the tarmac. I was sweating profusely so was the pilot.

He himself spoke on the headphone to clarify ,' We will start the AC once have the wheels up as need power during taking off' 

'My God is this Maruti 800 that you have to switch off AC while you go uphill?'  I said to myself. 

We moved like in an ordinary aircraft while I was trying to find the difference between a fighter and a commercial plane. It was a beautiful view all around as I could see the front and the sky as against the boeing aircraft where you cannot while sitting on a passenger window seat.

I soon heard' We are about to take off'

I was already fastened all around with the seat. I prayed and the aircraft took high speed. It was not much different as noise was controlled but the feeling of independent ownership came in and I felt so special. Soon our wheels left the ground(wheels up).

  I was soon going to experience its flying now. The speed appeared like that of an ordinary plane from inside initially but later I could feel the difference. The AC started and the sweat began to disappear bringing relief. 

After a few minutes of plane flying, the pilot said,

'How are you feeling ? 

'I am doing fine'I replied.

'I will be taking a turn now don't get disturbed' he continued.

Why will I get disturbed? I thought. All planes take a turn. 

Suddenly my head became heavy eyes felt like closing, the plane appeared to slow down as if has stopped going ahead. Hey! what is happening. I could not see a straight levelled ground below. It was a sharp turn with force of  2G on me. Soon everything was back to normal. 

I could see the partition between land and the sea below depicting the beauty of nature as we flew at low level also making me feel cautious when we flew over sea only  reminding me of the land safety jacket I was wearing.However soon the sight of trees made me comfortable. 

'You want to experience a bombing spree? The CO asked.

 ' Sure sir' I excitingly replied.

'OK here we go with that prominent white building below as the target.' he said immediately after which I felt weightlessness but was enjoyable. The sky appeared partially from the canopy with half of it covered by trees below due to the dip, the trees became bigger and clearer approaching them.

Oh God! I hope it takes up at the appropriate time looking at the ejection lever with some pessimism creeping into my mind. And then everything became so heavy I could see only the blue sky from the canopy. The plane appeared to be travelling at 10 km per hour I closed my eyes due to heaviness; it was taking a steep climb. 

What the hell is happening? I hope the pilot is not in the same state as I was otherwise who will fly it. And then soon we were normal.

'How was it?' A voice spoke on my headphone

We had climbed up. 

The pilots are trained for all this. 

After a few minutes I heard from him,

'Would you like to fly?'

Me ? Fly? How? I just got a days briefing from the youngster.

He laughed saying,

'Sir don't worry I will take on if you go wrong just experience a once in lifetime opportunity'. 

My dream of flying a Jaguar as a kid at Halwara Air Force station was about to come true without being in Airforce.

I took on the steering, so called stick in the technical jargon. It was much smoother than any power steering of a modern car, I tilted it slightly to the left , the wings outside tilted accordingly showing me the green fields, then similarly to the right to have the view from the right. I brought it back to normal, we flew straight for sometime. Now I pushed the stick slightly forward when the nose dipped and then pulled it towards me, the nose moved towards the sky. I looked at the dials, they were so many with needles moving, making me wonder how does the pilot keep a watch on all this at the same time? Probably they take years of training to learn such multitasking.

 'Sir over to you' I said to him after which I felt lighter thinking have handed over a big responsibility back to him.

We chatted discussing various controls in the aircraft for some time. Then he said

' Now I will make you experience 3G by taking a sharp turn, sharper than before. Are you ready to take it?I hope you are fine?'

I replied in affirmative bracing myself to face dizziness once again as experienced before. 

This time the head became heavier. The eyeballs attempted entering my head so I closed my eyes and waited for the minute to pass. When the situation eased I opened it not  being able to make out whether it was land, sea or sky which appeared above the canopy. 

It was fun with pressure. 

Would you like to experience 4G now? He asked.

'I think thats enough sir. I can interpolate with the experience I had.' I replied and he smiled. 'How many Gs can you take on like this?'I asked him out of curiosity.

 '9G' was his reply 

'You are real air commandoes' I said. 

I flew like this for about 45 min to my hearts content as it was going to be a milestone achievement with its memories to share after getting down on the ground. We sailed like a boat in a serene lake though to an outsider on ground must been deafening due to the sound it makes while flying low.

 It was landing time and we quietly glided  down like an eagle and were on the tarmac just like an ordinary plane. 

As we closed in to the hangar and halted there was a team welcoming us; locking the wheels, placing the ladder and all such actions making us feel like a VVIP. I shook hands with all of them thanking for the assistance and clicked a photo with the pilot with in Jaguar in its background.  Later I was also  given a certificate of my first flight in Jaguar.

It is an opportunity rendered to few lucky ones mostly very high dignitaries, celebrities and select few to experience its flight and I was among the lucky ones to experience it while in uniform.