Two Surya Kiran pilots killed in crash

     Bangalore: Two pilots of Indian Air Force`s famous `Surya Kiran` aerobatics team were killed on Saturday when their plane crashed on the outskirts of Bidar in north Karnataka. According to Police sources, the mishap occurred when the hind part of one plane struck another while they were on a routine practice. The damaged plane crashed into a field in Naubad on the outskirts of Bidar, about 700 kilometre from here, said sources.

     Formation Aerobatics has been a part of Indian Air Force (IAF) aviation history ever since its establishment. The `Surya Kiran` aerobatics team has a total of 13 pilots of whom only 9 are flying at any given time. The pilots are selected from the fighter stream of the IAF. There are pilots with experience on the Mirage 2000, Jaguar, MiG-23 and MiG-27. All are experienced QFIs with about 1000 hrs of experience on the Kiran itself. The team in its present form is tasked to carry out 30 displays in a calendar year. The regular displays include Air Force Day Celebrations at Palam, and the graduation parades of the Air Force Academy and the National Defence Academy, where the future Officers of the services are trained. To perform all these hair raising manoeuvres requires tremendous concentration, grit and determination to take the aircraft to the extremes of its envelope. The nine aircraft take off in VICs of three and join up in close formation, manoeuvring between speeds of 150 and 650 Kilometres per hour with their wing tips a mere 5 metres apart. The various profiles undertaken are a series of dynamic combinations resulting in constantly changing formations. This subjects the pilots to alternating 'g' forces between +6 to -1.5. The team looks at each and every manoeuvre in detail on the ground to meet the perfection. It is then flown and finally debriefed with the help of video recordings. Thus emerges the 15- 20 minutes of aerial choreography of the pilots. The team has successfully enthralled crowds from Srinagar down to Trivandrum and even beyond to Sri Lanka. On the romatic note the arrow through the heart carved out by Synchro pair virtually pierces the audience and is truly the icing on the cake.

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