December 2009 - Indian Airforce

D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 9 

BLAST FROM THE PAST

Chief Editor 

Vol. 167 December 2009 

Gp Capt Sameer Mehra VM 

Editors 

Wg Cdr GS Bishen 

Wg Cdr Vikram Munshi 

Editorial Assistants 

MWO TS Krishnan 

MWO AK Ghosh 

Mr Rakesh Kumar Singh 

Graphics Design 

Sgt G Ramesh 

Sgt V Saravanan 

Cpl Chetan Chauhan 

Designed and Printed by 

M/s Brijbasi Art Press Ltd. 

E-46/11, Okhla Industrial Area, 

Phase - II, New Delhi - 110020 

Tele: 011-41707212, 26386232 

Articles / Suggestions may be sent to: 

Editor, Flight Safety 

Institute of Flight Safety 

Air Force Palam 

New Delhi-110 010 

Fax: 011-25675059 

e-mail: editorfsmiaf@yahoo.com 

flightsafety@dg.iaf.in 

Every article must be accompanied 

by a brief bio-data and passport 

size photograph of the author. 

'Flight Safety' can be viewed on the IAF net at 

http://www.iaf.in/dg/dgissite/dfsweb/index.htm 

Suggestions and inputs on Quality Control 

issues of the IAF could be sent to DG(I&S), 

IAF by e-mail at the following address: 

dg_is@yahoo.com 

Round-the-clock contact of Principal Director 

Flight Safety: Tele: 011-26172738 (Off) 

011-25671488 (Res) 

Mob: +91-9717095606 

e mail: pdfs_iaf_in@indiatimes.com 

inside 

2 Your Flying Horoscope 

PEG 

4 Why Self Medication? 

15 Sqn AF 

5 Speaking of Safety 

Anonymous 

6 Look After Your Man - He’s Yours 

Mrs Jayanti Naidu 

8 Hot Rod 

Picerian 

10 Hurricane in a Cocktail Glass 

Wg Cdr A Agarwal 

13 Bar Profits 

One Three 

14 Instrument Flying 

PEG 

18 Don Quixote in the Clouds 

Wg Cdr Amarjeet Kullar VrC VSM 

21 Foolishness 

PUG 

22 The Story of MET 

Wg Cdr CN Venkatraman 

24 It isn’t Fair 

Anonymous 

26 Accident of the Month - 15 Seconds to Live 

28 Smile 

Picerian 

30 Flight Guardian Needs You 

31 Rules & Regulations 

Anonymous 

32 Good Show 

34 Well Done 

36 Are You a Gambler? 

Anonymous 

10 

2 28 

Center Spread 

The opinions expressed in the flight safety are the personal views of the 

authors, and do not reflect the official policies of Air HQ. Contributions are 

welcome, as are comments and criticism. The Editorial Board reserves the 

right to make any improvement/change in manuscripts.

Editorial 

e have great pleasure in presenting to you this special issue of the Flight Safety 

magazine this month. The magazine was born in 1961 as a bi-annual 

WNewsletter and was variously known as Flight Safety Newsletter and Flight 

Safety Guardian with its frequency of publishing increasing gradually to once in two 

months. From Nov 1974 the newsletter was rechristened as Safety Journal and it started 

getting published monthly. The Journal was assigned its present title of Flight Safety 

Magazine in Oct 1997. 

We have taken great pains to rummage through all previous issues of the flight safety 

magazine right since its inception to select articles reminiscing the past for this issue, but I 

have no doubt in admitting that the effort was entirely worth it. The difficulty in selection of 

articles was two fold - one the sheer number of articles we had to go through and second - to 

shortlist only a few out of so many good ones. 

The articles in this issue will surely give you a glimpse of the Indian Air Force of 

yesteryears and highlight its transformation into a professional force as it exists now. 

In this whole exercise, we realized that we have been sitting on a treasure and we have 

now decided to publish one article “from the archives” every month in our magazine 

commencing January 2010. 

(Sameer Mehra) 

Group Captain

PEG 

Jan 76 

2 Flight Safety D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 9 

INDIAN AIR FORCE

These forecasts are strictly meant for aircrew. Other 

branches are welcome to refer to it at their own risk, if 

flying with Air India/IAC and civil flying clubs. 

CAPRICORN DEC 22 – JAN 20 You are off to a flying start 

and are way ahead of the others. Try and keep it that way. 

Hindrances will be many, such as a cantankerous CO, terrible 

mess food and ill fitting inners. For luck wear your own flying 

clothing – the sweat of others may cause you to really sweat 

some day. 

AQUARIUS JAN 21 – FEB 19 Though the NAVY has won over 

the maritime role, keep yourself upto date in air-sea rescue 

procedures and never fly over the sea without a dingy. JAWS 

is still a best seller. Try and keep your weight down according 

to the new height/weight chart regardless of whether it 

causes a heart attack. For luck this year change your brand of 

butter from AMUL to SAGAR. 

PISCES FEB 20 – MAR 20 To stay in one piece this year use 

Janata soap, give your wife that extra allowance she has been 

harassing you for and clip your oxygen toggle to your flying 

overall. Gen up on your professional subjects not only when 

DASI is expected but throughout the year. They are fed up of 

howlers. For luck, wear your flying boots while flying – they 

are not only meant for walking. 

ARIES MAR 21 – APR 20 The year starts off at a slow tempo 

but picks up in the second quarter. Watch out for spurious 

drinks, dhaba food and false TA claims. If you are a UFSO, 

beware of FOD as there will be a spurt of UFO’s seen. Expect 

internal squabbles in the family. For luck always have your 

eggs double fried at breakfast before you fly. 

TAURUS APR 21- MAY 21 This is a good year for you. 

Promotions should be fast considering the uncertainty of 

DP aircraft and the DP selection amongst aircrew. Be careful 

regarding loading and unloading of guns, heavy drinking/ 

smoking and dust storms. You should be lucky in lotteries 

and horse racing. For luck, don’t cheat this year in your PFR. 

GEMINI MAY 22 – JUN 21 You are under the influence of 

planet Mars as such you might find human beings a bit 

exasperating. Restrict your late nights, calling on senior 

officers and cribbing. Always wear your bone dome while 

riding your scooter. Your brains are required by the service – 

inside your skull. Gp Capts and above should be extra careful 

of heavy landing. For luck, stick to your pull-out heights. 

CANCER JUN 22 – JUL 23 Do be cautious during the first half 

of the year. Those caught cheating in promotion exams will 

forfeit a year’s seniority. Be cautious in dealings with black 

marketeers, contractors and IT officers. Though your birth 

sign shows great sexual prowess, be content with the more 

common poses, as slipped discs bruised elbows and knees 

are not conducive to flight safety. For luck, always rehearse 

your critical emergencies before take off. 

LEO JUL 24 – AUG 23 A good year to gain rewards and 

recognition. Beware of shaky wingmen, hydraulic failures 

and wrong flight plans. Concentrate on IF, especially limited 

panel. Since you have a special affiliation to all feline animals 

with special application to big game, remember shooting 

is prohibited throughout the country. For luck, learn range 

procedures, observe correct firing ranges and avoid low pull 

outs. 

VIRGO AUG 24 – SEP 23 Since you make a better 

calligrapher than a virgin, put everything in spurious MTG 

bills, over logging of actual hours and non payments of 

mess bills. Any tree which produces a nut is considered 

peculiarly Virgoan, especially to senior officers. This does not 

mean merely those with edible nuts. You might have some 

difficulty in close formation. For luck, never allow speed to 

replace cautious, methodical approach to flight procedures. 

LIBRA SEP 24 – OCT 23 ‘Libra weighs in equal scales the 

year’ so you get as much good as bad. On the plus side 

your have a flying qualification, a coveted posting and twins 

if your wife is pregnant. On the minus side you subtract 

double charge for house rent, a shaky descent because the 

AD 200 and Su are off the air and if your are over 50, a slight 

murmur of the heart. For luck all safety officers to do one 

Court of Inquiry and not blame the pilot. 

SCORPIO OCT 24 – NOV 22 Your sting is the deadliest so 

have pity on other pilots. We are still that select ‘few’. You 

should be extremely careful of long car journeys, night 

cross country flights and bald headed senior officers. Power 

corrupts, so you might be given a position to test your power 

of corruption. To your advantages will be a thumping P-57, 

every chance of a course abroad and an out of turn allotment 

of a scooter. For luck this year make a conscientious effort to 

avoid birds – the flying variety. 

SAGGITARIUS NOV 23 – DEC 21 You should do a lot of 

travelling this year. Be extra careful of loss of luggage, loss 

of identity card and loss of acting rank. Since you are a 

go-getter and add another feather in your cap for making 

people work on Sundays, complete their flying task and hate 

you. If you have a teenage daughter she might cause some 

trouble by wanting to marry out of the community. Be wary 

of Air India pilots, college girls and spicy food. Watch out for 

‘April’ Fools Day – someone is likely to pull your ------. For 

luck this year don’t borrow another’s watch or chinstrap. 

The author used to write under the pseudonym ‘PEG’. 

INDIAN AIR FORCE 2 0 0 9 D e c e m b e r Flight Safety 3

15 Sqn AF 

Aug 1975 

The other day our SFSO gave us a talk about self 

medication and its associated hazards. To many of 

us it was just that the guy was trying to justify his 

existence. To others it was in through one ear and out of 

the other. I belonged to the latter category, but lying in 

bed last night after a party it came back to me and I was 

reminded of an incident which happened some years ago. 

I remembered the day, my squadron pal Albert, a sober, 

God fearing individual did not return from a medium level 

handling sortie. Hours later the crash site was located and 

the usual procedures followed. Hardly anything was found 

of Old A1 for any pathological examination. The Court 

came out with the verdict “UNRESOLVED”. That was the end. 

Two young pilots were detailed to pack A1’s belongings 

for dispatch to his next of kin. While we were at a game 

of bridge on a Saturday afternoon, one of the youngsters 

came up to me and said that they had found some testtubes 

and coloured strips of paper. Without giving it any 

thought I asked him to chuck them and get lost as we were 

already two down in a bid of three no-trumps. 

After a few years, I happened to get stuck at A1’s home 

town for the night. I decided to visit A1’s people and say 

‘Hallo’ to them. They were simple folks and the atmosphere 

showed simple and austere living. As the evening went by 

the story of Old A1 unravelled itself. He was the eldest of 

four children and his father, a bank clerk, had died at an 

early age. His mother had to take up job in a nearby primary 

school to make both ends meet. On commissioning, A1 

took on the entire burden and responsibility of the family. 

Somehow the topic veered to medical attention in the air 

force and I spoke of the specialists and hospitals we have. 

Then the old lady said, that in all the seven years A1 was in 

the air force, the doctors could not cure him of diabetes. 

I was about to say “But --------“, when it all flashed back to 

me ------ the incident at the bridge table, when I asked 

young Fg Offr Laxman to get lost. 

You may ask why he concealed his disease from the 

medical authorities. Could he afford to get grounded 

and lose approximately 425 bucks a month? What about 

the schooling of his younger brothers? What about the 

house rent? What about the repayment of the debt of Rs. 

10,000/- incurred by his father for his education? 

I am sure that all of you will agree that there are 

many Alberts sporting oxygen masks, concealing some 

malady or other for the fear of getting grounded and 

ruining their career. Today’s air force is not reserved for 

the rich few. It is formed of pilots from various strata 

of society. As such monetary matters assume greater 

importance. I can almost hear someone say “THEN WHAT 

IS THE SOLUTION”? 

As you all know airline pilots have their flying licenses 

insured for a six figure amount so that in case they lose it 

due to medical or other reasons they will not be on the 

street. Therefore, my solution to this grave problem is that 

the government insure our flying category so that in the 

event of a pilot losing his medical category permanently, 

he is not hit financially. I am sure that the cost of a modern 

aircraft and the life of a fully trained pilot will more than 

balance the cost incurred in such a project and possibly 

reduce ‘UNRESOLVED’ accidents. 

While it may be obvious, I wish to clarify that the 

above story is pure fiction . But it could become a true 

life drama. 


INDIAN AIR FORCE

Anonymous 

Nov-Dec 1971 

A 

group of birds decided to form a safety program. So they called a meeting and the 

Duck stood up and said, “I think we should have a lot of safety meetings. It’s another 

way we can get together with the flock and bawl them out.” 

But the rooster said, “No, that takes too much time and we’ve got to get the pipe in the 

ground”. So the argument went on. The Parrot said, “We don’t need any meeting. Everyone 

will be safe because they know it’s the right thing to do”. 

All the birds cheered, for they knew that no one tries to get hurt on purpose. Then the 

Mockingbird said, “What we need is a lot of posters. We will put posters up all over the place 

and we’ll have safety”. The Thrush said, “We don’t want posters,” and the Sparrow said they 

do just as well if they had some slides. The Goose stood up and said, “What we really need 

is a safety director who’ll be stern.” But the Starling thought it was more important that the 

safetyman be a ‘good mixer”. The Blue Jay figured if the safety director laid off the safety 

inspection, he’d automatically be popular with everyone. 

The real wrangle came over the protective equipment. Some thought everyone should 

wear it all the time. Others thought only part of the time and yet others said it should be 

written out so they wouldn’t have to make any decision. 

So finally, the Owl rose and smoothened his feathers. Everyone grew quiet, for they 

knew he had great wisdom. “Friends”, he said, “All this is secondary, I’ll tell you what we 

need. What we need is sincerity”. And all the birds applauded and stamped and cooed and 

whistled. 

“Yes, sir, “repeated the Owl quite pleased with himself, “above everything, we must be 

real sincere – even if we don’t mean it”. 

And so they formed a safety programme – and it was for birds. 


Mrs Jayanti Naidu 

Mar 1976 

In this the International Womens’ Year, in which 

women have expressed their views on every subject, 

writing on Flight Safety from a wife’s view point seems 

in keeping with the times. To a pilot’s wife, the term 

flight safety should signify his well being at work but, 

perhaps we take it as a vague jargon, which has nothing 

to do with us wives. Technically that may be so. When 

faced with a technical crisis during flight, he has his good 

training to stand by him. But there are other human 

factors which could also involve a pilot in an accident. 

Herein, we wives could help. Actually we wives could 

help threefold where flight safety is concerned, and 

each one a positive contributory factor to his survival 

in the air. Our contribution to flight safety would be his 

good health, moderation in day to day living and mental 

peace. 

Health is the first requisite of success in any walk of 

life. But in a challenging career like that of a pilot, health 

is of paramount importance. The doctors stress the 

importance of a well balanced diet to maintain physical 

fitness required of a pilot or aircrew, of which we are well 

aware. A married officer is entirely dependent on his wife 

for his much required nutritious, well balanced and timely 

diet. There is no facility for him to have such a diet outside 

his home nor could he afford it economically. To begin 

with, every knowledgeable wife must ensure that he has 

his breakfast before going to work which is a must before 

flying. Medically, I need not elaborate on this. A little 

planning the previous night and a little determination to 

serve with love (the breakfast) in the morning makes it a 

simple routine over the years and not a difficult task at 

all. Which man will refuse a timely, well laid out, simple 

breakfast before rushing to work? But, if the wife seems 

tired and reluctant in the morning, most men would 

choose peace at home and greasy samosas at work. 

Remember Ladies, the “Eagle Eye” is watching you, so do 

your duty. Diet charts giving us a good idea of a balanced 

meal as per aircrew requirement are readily available and 

we could use it as a guide. A conscientious wife merits 

cooperation from the husband as well. The type who has 

late nights, and rushes off to work, in spite of the wife’s 

pleas – has only himself to blame. 


INDIAN AIR FORCE

This brings us to the second aspect in 

which we wives could help with his flight safety 

and that is helping him to practice moderation 

in day to day living. Bachelors fondly called 

‘Topers’ have been known to turn to moderate 

drinkers and smokers after marriage. Not 

always a case of getting henpecked, I am 

sure. Actually, drinking becomes a ridiculous 

pastime when loneliness is 

removed from a man’s life. If the 

woman is willing to give the 

required companionship to her 

man, without nagging or taking 

drastic views to the way of life 

he has been used to, much can 

be achieved. Be by his side at 

all times and rest assured you 

are on the winning side. For 

instance, when your husband 

drinks excessively, you get 

angry and rightly so. But at 

times when he is working 

long and hard, are you sympathetic and 

kind to your bread-earner? In every profession, a time 

comes when extra duties are essential like for a farmer 

at harvest time; the businessman at boom periods; the 

doctors during an epidemic. But a pilot’s overwork has 

a special stigma because he is risking his life. The wives 

contribution to flight safety comes vividly into focus here. 

This is the time to appreciate his stamina and devotion 

to duty. Forget your petty grievances and keep smiling. 

The hardships you have endured during his absence, 

would be taken as your extra duties. And in reward to 

such devotion, it is the right of the wife to expect some 

cheer, affection from the husband however overworked. 

The man who pours out his frustrations at work on the 

wife who has patiently awaited his return, is not the type, 

I write for. 

“But a pilot’s overwork 

has a special stigma because 

he is risking his life. “ 

the doorbell to ring after working hours, Lady. 

Then learn to curb your quick temper. If you 

learn to bestow the natural goodness of your 

heart on the man in your life, you could beat all 

psychological theories hollow. 

Here, most wives would like to ask if it 

is really that simple to manage the husband? 

It certainly is not. But the effort from our side 

is a must. The ups and downs 

he faces at work is a battle 

he has to fight alone. It is at 

home that we can share joys 

and sorrows equally. As long 

as you keep alive his urge to 

live, you have ensured his flight 

safety to the best of your ability. 

And so may he fly, happily and 

securely along with the ‘Bird of 

Time’. 

The third vital factor to ensure his flight safety is his 

mental peace. A person’s frame of mind reflects his day 

to day living and naturally the wife plays a major role in 

it. Stress and strain at work could be a contributory factor 

but here we are concerned with the wife’s view point only. 

During flight when critical and instantaneous decisions 

have to be taken, an agitated or depressed state of mind 

could be dangerous. It is our responsibility to ensure 

that he goes to work in a calm state of mind. If you have 

had a row, the previous night, you have the whole day 

to cry out your sorrow. But the man you send to work 

– especially to fly, has no such outlets for his emotions. 

His pent up feelings make him dangerously prone to 

wrong decisions and actions. No flight is worth such a 

consequence. Whatever the quarrel, you would still like 

He flew too near the Drogue 


Picerian 

Mar 1974 

No one could touch me as far as flying was concerned. Well, 

almost no one, except, the odd dozen or so, may be two 

“dozen or so other pilots around. As I said, I was a hot rod. 

In my youth I was a hot rod. I could fly an aircraft to the 

limit of its limits. (I had no limits). I could loop it right 

side up and upside down. I could do a climbing spin, 

a descending climb; turn so tight that I could look up my 

own tail pipe. No one could touch me as far as flying was 

concerned. Well, almost no one, except, the odd dozen or 

so, may be two dozen or so other pilots around. As I said, I 

was a hot rod. 

One day I was zipping along the runway in my flying 

machine. I hadn’t a care in the world and was eager 

to get my looping speed down by another ten knots 

to set up a record of looping at the lowest speed. Lift 

off, undercarriage up, bend the throttle to get it quickly, 

check undercarriage up and locked. Hello, the red lights 

are going out in an usual sequence, and the nose wheel 

locked up last. Queer. 

Up at 10,000 feet, the fuel was excessive for the loops 

I wanted to practise. Instead of burning off the fuel, I 

decided to use the time productively by checking the 

undercarriage retraction sequence. Reduce speed and 

select down. The nose wheel took long to come down 

and locked down last. Now select up. Right is green, the 

left is green and finally the nose is green. The sequence 

is wrong but what happened when I selected down? So 

down once more and watch carefully. Hydraulic pressure 

“ 

is normal, the two main wheels lock down but the nose 

wheel is red. 25 sec, 30 sec, 35 sec and finally the nose 

wheel is green. Let me jot all this down on my knee pad 

or I’ll forget. That’s fine, I have the ‘undercarriage down’ 

details. Now for the ‘undercarriage up’ details and lever 

up. Hydraulic pressure normal. Both main wheels lock 

up, but the nose is red. 40 sec, 50 sec, 60 sec and the red 

between greens then red then green then red and so 

on. All this is most unsatisfactory and the eagerness for 

low speed loops is dampened somewhat. 

After two orbits for decision making, I decided to 

abort and return to base. To be on the safe side, the 

undercarriage had better be extended right away. 

Down went the lever. The main wheels locked down, 

but the nose was red. It was red even after two minutes. 

Nothing to worry about. The micro switch must be 

playing up. Anyway, no harm in informing the ATC and 

having a visual check done. A low fly-by and the ATC 

calmly observed that the nose wheel appeared fully up. 

Two circuits and bumps later the nose wheel was still 

fully up. It was still up 4g later. 

Now a ‘main wheel only’ landing became inevitable. 

I asked for foam. In classic air force tradition, ATC wanted 

to know where I would prefer this to be. Along the 

centre of course, where else? The runway was foamed, 


INDIAN AIR FORCE

the crash vehicles were cranked up and the ambulance 

was straining at the leash. I was cleared to land; the 

landing was impeccable and I kept the nose up waiting 

for the foam to show up. No foam! The nose was lowered 

gently and all was going fine. Suddenly, an obstruction 

on the horizon attracted my attention. It was the foam 

coming up. It was about five feet high and appeared to 

occupy a quarter width of the runway. There was no way 

to avoid it. 

I ran into this heap at about 60 Kts. Splash ! The 

mountain of foam was flattened. I was in and out in a 

trice. The aircraft stopped soon after and had suffered 

negligible damage. The SATCO came pelting in his jeep. 

He said, “I couldn’t understand how this foam in the centre 

of the runway would help you”. The flag car arrived in the 

nick of time. Everyone took it for granted that a genuine 

hot rod like me would naturally do a good job of landing 

a stricken aircraft. 

Later, a persistent and nagging doubt kept 

hammering away at a nerve end in my brain. This was 

a feeling that my aircraft was talking to me while I was 

fiddling about with the undercarriage and telling me that 

it had a bug in the nose wheel. Somewhat like a pet dog 

which limps up with a paw extended. But this of course 

is nonsense. Whoever heard of an aircraft talking to its 

pilot? 

Then there is another doubt which assails me. Did I 

read somewhere, that if something goes wrong with an 

aircraft, a pilot should not try to find out what went wrong 

by repeatedly putting the aircraft in the same situation? 

Maybe many years ago, when something similar was 

described in a magazine? I cannot remember. 

While talking about this accident to another hot 

rod friend of mine, he remarked that a true hot rod 

would have detected the error in sequencing during 

initial undercarriage retraction. He would then have 

decided to abort, lowered his undercarriage and landed 

uneventfully. He would have written down the fault in 

the Form 700 and left it to the ground crew to fix the fault. 

I got the impression that he was trying to insinuate that 

I wasn’t a true hot rod and that I was not doing well for 

the fraternity. It’s very well for him to talk disparagingly of 

me. I can fly his pants and underpants off him any day. 

The final blow fell when this accident was listed as 

“Avoidable – Pilot Indiscretion”. This after the cool and 

professional manner in which I had handled the whole 

situation and landed the aircraft so beautifully that it 

was flying a week later. Never moved off the centre line 

throughout its landing run, through the foam and all. 

There doesn’t appear to be any justice around the way 

people pick on the small and insignificant things and 

forget the bigger, more important and spectacular ones. 

Plain professional jealousy, I think. 

The author used to write under the pseudonym Picerian. 


Wg Cdr A Agarwal 

Nov 2007 

I 

recently visited the United States for an aviation medicine conference, where I presented a paper 

on the shortfalls of Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS) and some suggested 

remedies. The discussion got kind of lively and a lot of views were exchanged. Among the more 

vociferous was one lady (for convenience, let’s call her Jane) who was from the US Navy Safety Centre; 

the birthplace of HFACS. As time passed the discussion digressed to other flight safety related issues, 

including the approach to accidents and their investigation. I have always been interested in finding 

out how different Air Forces interpret similar circumstances leading to an accident, in absolutely 

different ways. Consequently, I was very interested in obtaining first hand information, if possible, on 

how the Americans do it. 

“I wish I could see some of your Board of Inquiries (BOI)”, I mentioned to Jane, as we were leaving 

at the end of the session. 

“There is one being presented tomorrow, right here in New Orleans”, she replied. “I’ll see if I can get 

permission to have you in it as an observer”. 

“I would really treasure such an opportunity”, I told her and we parted for the day. 

The atmosphere in New Orleans is akin to the one found in Goa; given to a lot of bonhomie 

and fun. Not many may be aware that Hurricane Katrina, while it destroyed a large part of New 

Orleans, is not the most famous hurricane to hit it. The most famous ‘Hurricane’ is 

a cocktail concocted at a pub called Pat O’Brien’s and contains about four 

ounces of rum. And so, BOI or no BOI, I spent the evening sampling 

Hurricanes, while my wife spent it telling me how stupid I 

was, spending precious dollars on getting drunk. 

It goes without saying that when I got 

up to attend the BOI presentation, I had 

a hurricane swirling in my head, throwing 

hundred pound hammers and attempting to split my 

head. I quickly dressed and rushed down to the hotel lobby to find 

Jane pacing about agitatedly. 

“We are already late”, she mentioned as we sat in her car and broke the sound barrier. 


INDIAN AIR FORCE

The presentation hall looked somewhat like a 

courtroom. The judge was a guy in naval uniform, with 

many stripes on his shoulders. Through my misty, alcohol 

laden eyes I could not make out the number of stripes 

and hence named him ‘Judge’. The person presenting 

the BOI was the President of the Board, a naval Captain. 

The presentation had already started as we sneaked in 

through the back door. Thankfully, a copy of the ‘Brief 

Narrative’ had been placed on every seat, so I did not face 

difficulty in comprehending the sequence of events. 

In short, what had happened was this: A fighter 

aircraft was coming in for landing and the runway 

crossing barrier was closed. The light signal for opening 

the gate flashed briefly and the operator pressed 

the button for opening the barrier, which operated 

electrically. As it started opening, an airman on his 

motorcycle shot through on to the runway, though the 

operator closed the gate almost immediately. The airman 

was hit on the head by the wing tip of the landing ac 

and died immediately. After deliberating for a long time 

about whether the barrier operator or DATCO could be 

lying, the BOI determined that the electrical connection 

for the light may be faulty, causing it to come on briefly. 

The DATCO was blamed for the accident, since he had not 

ensured full serviceability. The Judge seemed convinced 

with this, and the presentation drifted off into exchange 

of pleasantries. 

The presentation highlighted the fact that the station 

was peculiar, in that the accommodation for personnel 

was on one side of the runway, while the workplace was 

on the other side. This resulted in nearly 2000 airmen 

crossing the runway, four times a day. The station was 

a busy training base, with nearly 40,000 take offs and 

landings per year. 

“Hmm”, she replied glumly. I thought she was angry 

at me for being late, but it turned out that she was as 

unsatisfied with the verdict, as I was. “Won’t these guys 

ever see reason”, she seethed through her clenched jaw, 

inadvertently making a pun – the guy who taught the 

world about latent and active failures is called James 

Reason. 

“The way I see it, that there are 2000x4x40000, i.e. 

32,00,00,000 chances of a similar collision every year”, I 

mentioned. “Therefore, if the ATC guys have managed 

to prevent those many accidents every year, they have 

actually done a commendable job…” 

“And they go ahead and blame them”, she completed 

my sentence. 

“I always suggest using the concept of substitution”, 

I continued. “So let’s ask ourselves a simple question: If 

someone else had been the DATCO, can we be sure that 

the accident would not have occurred? The answer 

would immediately throw up the truth”. 

“I am sure that the accident would still have 

occurred”, she replied. “Any fool can see that it was waiting 

to happen”. 

I turned to Jane and asked, “Air Forces around the 

world are pretty similar, aren’t they?” 


“Then, who do you think is responsible for the 

accident?” I asked. 

“The bloody guys who designed this base, for sure”, 

she said. “They wrote the script for this accident when 

they made the blueprint”. 

“Exactly… so blaming the DATCO would not prevent 

another, similar accident from taking place”, I mused 

aloud. 

“If you were asked to recommend steps to prevent 

the next accident, what would you suggest?” Jane 

asked. 

“I would say that the primary reason for the accident 

is that airmen are staying on one side of the runway and 

have to cross the runway to go to work”, I said. 

“Yes, and so…?” Jane asked. 

“So, if we want to prevent the next accident, runway 

crossing should be avoided. I would suggest building an 

under-bridge, to facilitate it”, I said. 

“That’s right. Why blame the DATCO?” Jane agreed. 

“You are a foreigner, they won’t mind it if you point it out. 

Why don’t you tell them?” 

It must have been the raging hurricanes that 

prompted me to butt in, even though I should have 

known better. I briefly wondered if I should say “Mee 

Laard” in the true Hindi film style, and then blurted, “Sir, I 

don’t think that you have reached the right conclusion”, 

which invited a quizzical look from the judge. “About 

blaming the DATCO…” I added as if that would clarify 

everything. 

By now both the Captain and Judge were giving me 

rather antagonistic looks. Rather than facing their ire, I 

started speaking very fast and explained my reasons for 

disagreeing, without pausing for a breath. 

“Have you no sense at all, you idiot?” the judge 

screamed showing his desperation. “What would the 

kids think?” This somehow made very little sense to me. 

“Have you any idea of the sick fashion in which you 

are behaving”, shrieked the Judge, in a voice which had 

by now definitely taken a hysterical and almost feminine 

pitch. “The least you can do is to take your shoes off before 

lying down” and I opened my eyes. I almost screamed in 

panic as I saw my wife standing with a white face pack 

and her toothbrush sticking out of her mouth. It looked 

like an arrow sticking out of a round, white target (wishful 

thinking!!). 

She was shaking in rage. “Dare you go out and have 

a drink ever again. You have no idea how I dragged you 

back from Bourbon Street. And then this…”, she said, 

pointing her finger at my shoes. “And, by the way, your 

bloody Jane called up. She said she could not get you 

permission to attend the presentation tomorrow”. 

So here I was brewing a storm in a tea cup – or was it 

a Hurricane in a Cocktail Glass. 

Those of you who are fortunate enough to be 

bachelors, please believe me when I say that the most 

effective way to remove a hangover is to have a annoyed 

wife, threateningly shaking her finger at you. I sat up 

meekly and started untying my laces. While I was doing 

so, I wondered how a COI that I once read could enmesh 

itself in my dream. Incidentally, the verdict in this COI had 

also been the same i.e. the DATCO had been blamed. No 

permanent solution had been given and we still depend 

on luck to prevent the next accident. So far history has 

not repeated itself, and I only hope it stays that way. I 

could have carried on with this thought, but I could hear 

my wife splashing water on her face…matter of minutes 

before she came out of the washroom. Not wanting to 

receive another lashing, I quickly changed, brushed my 

teeth and went back to sleep. Better to keep your eyes 

closed. 


INDIAN AIR FORCE

One Three 

Apr 1975 

This article is entirely fictitious. Any resemblence to 

any personality, living or dead, is their fault. 

“Abdar, do aur.” 

“Not for me, please, after six large I feel 

peculiar.” 

“Come on. You’re not flying till next week.” 

“Yeah. I know – but this is Sunday.” 

“O,K. Abdar – do chota.” 

“Ah well. Cheers. Oops. Sorry. New tie?” 

“No sweat. The whole lot is due for dry cleaning 

anyway.” 

“Abdar – ek aur.” 

“As I was saying, as long as Command can’t identify 

with us we’ll continue to get stupid orders. Every time 

there is a prang another set of restrictions is laid down. 

I’m praying and hoping nobody gets killed on start up, 

that will present some problems. 

“Oh! Come on. You always exaggerate things. After 

all they are the same sort of chaps sitting there. Take old 

Bindi – he’s got more hours on MiG’s than you and I have. 

He tells me he drafted the last directive.” 

“That might be so but then you make sense of the 

last restriction. We can barely get airborne now. And 

there is such a helluva transition between what we are 

allowed to do now and what we are expected to do in 

Ops.” 

“Abdar – do aur. Yeah you’re right. Six months 

seniority now and a VrC next week. I sometimes think, 

that wars are organised to stabilise the Air Force list.” 

“Say ! Do you remember Jake? He was my flight 

commander in ’65. Ah ! He was damn good. I just 

couldn’t get the hang of 1vs1 and he spent hours coaxing 

me along until suddenly it clicked. He used to watch all 

our landings when he wasn’t flying and in the gentlest 

possible way encourage us to some sort of precision. And 

the airmen used to worship him. He never packed up 

before they did and used to say please and thank you.” 

“Yeah I remember him but you must admit that half 

the things he used to do were because his squadron 

commander left him alone to run his flight and the station 

commander used to supervise from the air.” 

“That damn hog. I believe he’s changed now. Adbar 

– do aur. Got ambitious and is waiting for this acting or 

substantive. God knows which.” 

“You can’t blame him. Constant heat without light 

will break anyone in the end. I overheard him the other 

day in Delhi saying that the day a C-in-C comes on 

inspection and spends the first two hours sitting in Flying 

Control, just watching flying and listening, that’s the day 

he’ll feel there is some hope. Abdar – do aur. After that 

they can look at sanitary diary.” 

“I feel sorry for C-in-C’s. The only news they get is 

about prangs and accident rates. Plays up hell with a 

sense of humour. Specially, when you have never pranged 

yourself.” 

“Abdar – do aur. Now I’ve heard everything.” 

“Sahib – Orange squash sub katam hogiah.” 

“Acha ? Do rum laggow.” 

The author used to write under the pseudonym ‘One Three’. 


PEG 

Mar 1978 

Are you married? ‘No, Sir’. Are you insured? ‘Yes, 

Sir’ ‘Thank God’ ‘Well Youngman, in my twenty 

years of flying, I’ve never been taken for such a 

ride and considering I’m in the GD branch, that’s saying 

something’. You know the closest you came to staying 

within limitations was, when you lined up for take-off +5 

deg. And that would have ensured, you left the runway at 

unstick point if I had not taken over controls. What’s your 

problem – wine, women, song? Are you getting enough 

flying practice? By the way, what’s happened to your eye? 

Seems like a bloodshot. How come! Too many down the 

hatch last evening? You youngsters never know where 

to draw the line. All I can say is, if you carry on like this, 

one day a fire will be reported on approach and that will 

be the end of PEG, ‘Period’! 

That was the latter part of a debriefing I got on an 

IF sortie in the late fifties. The IR examiner from AEB 

was a jolly, fair, smiling bouncy individual who used to 

get blood red whenever I demonstrated a ‘Twizzel’ in a 

‘Vamp’ trainer. For those of you who’ve never had the 

opportunity to do a ‘Twizzel’, it is a cross between a steep 

turn, a loop and a cork-screw. Why it was ever introduced 

into the IF pattern I’ll never know, except to fox poor 

individuals like me. Once when I was doing a ‘Twizzel’ I 

started descending instead of ascending and he tapped 

my left knee and shouted ‘Fathead, you’re descending— 

you should be climbing, do something’; so I did something 

by increasing bank and ended up in a descending spiral. 

He told me to take-off the IF glasses I was wearing and 

look outside. I was indeed in a descending spiral, but 

since I had removed the IF glasses I concentrated on the 

instruments without looking outside and recovered with 

MG limits. So he said “if you can recover so well without 

glasses’ why can’t you do the same thing with glasses. 

‘Yea, why can’t I do the same thing with glasses’. 

Did I hear someone say ‘What’s this thing about IF 

glasses. You don’t know’. Well, in the days of old, we 

usually dressed up for IF. A pair of aircrew glasses were 

painted black leaving two apertures measuring 1” x 1/2” 

on the bottom inner side of the lens to see through. 

Enough to give anyone bloodshot eyes. Just looking 

at this contraption I use to get cross eyed, and when I 

put them on, I used to disorientate myself sitting in an 

armchair. But since most of the other guys used it, I could 


INDIAN AIR FORCE

not complain loudly, There were a few other guys who 

suffered the same malady, so I consoled myself that may 

be the ‘cream’ did suffer. There were also a wide variety of 

glasses available. Some had tinted lens for bright sunny 

days and some had circular apertures like a camera. As 

one schmuck said “Why be a square’. So guys this was the 

paraphernalia we used for IF to simulate actual or ideal 

conditions, India Mike. Once when it was cloudy and dull, 

I borrowed a pair of IF glasses from a night fighter pilot 

(the breed is now extinct) and found to my horror they 

were tinted. As I put them on at take-off point, I could 

not see the instrument panel. I couldn’t then inform my 

instructor who was the same fair bouncy individual of my 

predicament. So I continued my take-off run staring into 

complete darkness. I was saved as we had to abandon 

the take-off because of an approaching thunderstorm. 

His remarks ‘A very good take-off. If only he knew. 

My next forte was ‘Unusual Attitudes’. I don’t know, 

but in my 20 years of fighter flying, I’ve never been in such 

unusual attitudes that I have experienced in practice 

IF sorties. I have been in usual attitudes but never in 

‘unusual attitudes’. One safety pilot was a ‘Cruster’ for this. 

May be he was born in an unusual attitude and wanted to 

return to the same foetal position. He used to take it out 

on me. ‘Close your eyes’, he would shout and it sounded 

like I’d never open them again. ‘When I tell you to recover, 

open your eyes, shout the altitude and recover. Hand me 

the aircraft back straight and level. Then followed a series 

of manoeuvres a trapeze artist would give her left arm for. 

A 7g descending spiral followed by a 6g loop followed by 

a wing, followed by a stall turn, followed by me passing 

out in the seat. Even if I did have enough courage and 

strength to brave the initial onslaught, it always turned 

out a losing battle for he had upset all the instruments. 

The compass and artificial horizon were both toppled, 

two other instruments had been blanked off. I used to 

stare at the oxygen gauge, recover and say, you’ve got her 

Sir’. ‘Whose got her?’ he would grumble. ‘The way you’ve 

recovered even God would find it difficult to recover’. And 

with that he would bring the stick back into the pit of his 

stomach and I’d pass out again. On re-recovering I would 

stare bleary-eyes through the IF glasses at the instrument 

panel and wonder if Hell could be worse. Before I could 

feel too sad about myself, he would ask me to carry out a 

descent on limited panel and my mind would wonder to 

the ‘fire on approach’ scene. I managed to come overhead 

after tracing a sine curve on radar. 

Yet another time it was raining ‘bucket and tubs’, in 

Pune in the middle of May. Since I was the junior most 

in order of battle, my aircrew cupboard was the smallest 

and situated in a leaky corner of the changing room. I 

was in the process of emptying rain water from my 

flying boots, when the Flt Cdr entered and said ‘Heny 

Sprog, go to flying control and file the clearance for Flt 

Lt___________’. He is landing from Bangalore in 5 min 

and wants further clearance to Kanpur! I said ‘In this rain!’ 

He said ‘He’s a white card’. I said ‘A W-H-I-T-E C-A-R-D Sir, 

very well, right away Sir, rain or no rain’. So I mobiked it to 

Flying Control and got the ducking of my life. Ambitious 

thoughts flittered though my mind of one day qualifying 

for a white card. If these guys could fly in this weather 

when I had great difficulty mobiking it, it certainly would 

be a great achievement for me. So I spluttered up to the 

DATCO and asked him for a clearance form. He said ‘For 

what’. I said ‘My Flt Cdr wants to go to Kanpur’. He said 

‘you must be joking or you’re off your rocker’. I said ‘He’s 

a white card holder’! He said ‘A W-H-I-T-E C-A-R-D’. I said 

‘Yes”. He said ‘He’s cleared’. I said ‘I beg your pardon’. He 

said ‘He’s cleared’. So you see fellas, once upon a time 

your card really meant something – or did it I shudder 

to think what weather a MG card holder use to fly in. Or 

were there any MGs! 

A contemporary of mine related this incident to me 

about limited panel flying. After being briefed, he was 

told to cut out six instrument blanks and report to the 

cockpit. Since it is also known as blind panel flying, evil 

thoughts passed through his mind when he saw his 

instructor waving a scarf before tucking it into his pocket. 

Anyway immediately after take-off, his artificial horizon 

was blanked off. Soon the compass followed. As they 

were approaching levelling off altitude his altimeter 

went. Since he still had the Mach meter and ASI, he could 

still work out his height. He was then, briefly shown his 

compass heading and asked to do a timed turn onto 

another heading. Half-way through the turn, the aircraft 

clock was blanked off. He reverted to his watch. Since 

by now he was chasing the VSI round the clock, that 

instrument was also blanked off, so he transferred his 

attention to the cabin altimeter. He was by now reaching 

breaking point, so he implored his instructor for the coupde-grace 

and asked to be blind folded completely with 

the scarf. No, its not a made up yard, but a true incident. 

How ridiculous can one get? 

The ground subject test that followed the flying 

test was also quite amusing. I was once asked this 

question ‘An aircraft is flying at 40,000 ft’. The Altimeter 

is connected by a tube which trails out of the aircraft and 

is vented to the atmosphere at ground level. If the glass 

of the instrument in the cockpit is broken what height 

would the instrument record. I thought to myself. I had 

3 options 40,000 ft, cabin altitude or ground level. He said 

‘Right’. He said ‘Supposing I, puncture the tube at a height 

of 20,000 ft, what would it then read’. I said ‘ The maker’s 

name’. I was, of course, made O I/C Refueling Section for 


two weeks after that, but then if you ask a silly question 

-----. Some of the other questions were equally silly and 

made no difference to the price of cabbages whether you 

knew them or not. Needless to say, I plugged most of the 

tests and I seriously thought, about committing harakiri 

after pending 129 hrs with my AP 129. Thank goodness 

the new AP goes by a different number now. 

Quite a few guys must by now be lining up their 

bazookas at me, but before they pull the trigger, I would 

like them to hear me out first and if at the end they still 

are convinced that I need the firing squad then they are 

welcome to ‘Fire’---but only through the pages of the 

Journal. 

Since then many guys have been to other countries 

on an exchanges basis to share ideas on flight safety 

and fighters tactics. Among the first to go were some 

of the ‘pioneers’ of the IF glasses. ‘When they asked 

their foreign counterparts if this practice of wearing IF 

glasses was sound, their counterparts were completely 

flabbergasted. The eyes or vision plays an important 

aspect in our orientation and any hindrance to this will 

create or enhance disorientation. Like, for example you 

are standing on one leg with arms outstretched, the 

moment you close your eyes your whole equilibrium goes 

for a bunt. Likewise with ‘IF glasses’ since the complete 

vision is restricted, guys with a keener sense of balance 

are unbalanced. So poor old Peg and a host of others, 

with a keener sense of balance had their gyros toppled 

before the show started. Anyway, when these pioneers 

returned from’ foreign’ ‘IF’ glasses were out. We then 

started using the visor with a cover and friends believe it 

or not, I made the MG standard in one go and attained a 

MG Card within the first seven years of flying. Many years 

later when I was teaching a few of the young bods the 

finer points of IF, I thought to myself that I must try this 

‘IF’ glasses gambit’ on one of the promising youngsters 

who was really good in IF. So one day, I made him wear 

the glasses for an IF sortie and believe it or not he nearly 

executed a perfect ‘screwdriver’ after take-off. So I asked 

his trouble and he said, once he put on the glasses it was 

like tying his wrist to his ankle and then asking him to 

observe normal etiquette at dinning table. I thought the 

simile quite appropriate and briefly told him why I tried 

it. 

‘The Twizzel’ is out. Thank God for small mercies. 

The IF pattern now is a well planned and balanced 

pattern which average pilots are able to execute within 

the prescribed number of practice sortie. The ground 

subject tests also follow a more rational approach and 

try to find out what you should know rather than what 

you shouldn’t know. The periodical checks on a pilot’s 

progress in IF are also now well planned and the trainer is 

of the same type as the fighter or close to it. Way back in 

the fifties, I was in a Hunter sqn which had a Vamp trainer 

as the dual aircraft. Hunter trainers had yet not arrived. 

You can imagine our plight with flying the powered 

control fighter the whole year through and then do your 

IF rating on the Vamp trainer. As one guy put it ---‘It’s like 

practicing basketball the year through and then taking 

part in football’. Anyway we survived. Today, there is a 


INDIAN AIR FORCE

of exceptional skill in IF. His limitation were + nothing. 

However, this guy was horrified of clouds, rain and poor 

visibility. In other words, he was just plain terrified of 

bad weather. I can’t vouch for it, but I’m quite sure he 

never entered cloud. He was a MG and an IRI, so don’t 

ask me how he logged his ‘actual’. He was an exception 

rather than the rule which only goes to prove that 

simulated experience is one thing but actual another. 

A proper blend of the two would give us a safe and 

skillful pilot. Our approach now, to IF is truly more 

on the professional lines than, from the days of yore. 

Our experienced pilots are quite capable of handling 

most of the situations the weather Gods are capable of 

dealing out. When the Gods are very very angry, most 

pilots stay on the deck and leave the arena to Thor and 

CO. 

more professional approach to IF but one aspect needs 

mention. If there were no clouds, no fog, no bad weather, 

no dust storms, there would be no need for instrument 

flying. Instrument flying therefore came into being 

because of bad weather. So to learn instrument flying, 

we have to train to fly in bad weather. Everything cannot 

be simulated. We have to remove these apprehensions 

of low clouds/poor visibility from the minds of pilots. 

Then only can we truly say that our pilots have achieved 

a high standard of instrument flying. I once knew a pilot 

Finally, I’ve just got to mention a briefing I 

overheard while passing a neighbouring sqn 

crewroom in the good old days. It’s a real yorker. The Flt 

Cdr was briefing a youngster on an IF take-off. “When 

I tell you to line-up ask permission from Flying Control, 

check that the approach and runway are clear and 

then line up. After you line-up and have finished your 

checks and vital actions, lower your ‘IF’ glasses’. We will 

do an IF take-off”. In those days the whole take-off was 

done on instruments. Can you beat it? ‘When I say roll, 

release brakes, open power and commence roll’. If you 

are going left, I’ll say your ‘Zinging’ and if your going 

right I’ll say your ‘Zanging’. Now don’t forget ‘if I say you 

are zinging means your going to the left and if I say 

you are zanging means your going to the right. Right! 

Now if I say you’re zinging and zinging means you are 

going left and more left and if I say you are zanging and 

zanging you’re going right and further right. An if I say 

your zinging and then zanging means you are going left 

and then right. “Poor chap he was by now zingling. Our Flt 

Cdr was made of sterner stuff. ‘Now don’t forget if you’re 

zinging apply right rudder, and if you’re zanging apply 

left rudder’. Right! And lastly if it gets out of control I’ll 

say ‘You’re zinging and zanging and zanging and zinging 

and then you’re pranging’. Right! Ok.” “Let’s go.” Go 

where! Our poor chap didn’t stand a chance. We’ve come 

a long way since then, so now if any of you guys still want 

to pull the trigger you’re most welcome. While you’re 

deciding, I leave you with this thought; ‘A well adjusted 

man is one who can entertain himself, entertain another 

and entertain a new thought or idea!.. Keep smiling. 

The author used to write under the pseudonym ‘PEG’. 


Wg Cdr Amarjeet Kullar VrC VSM 

Nov 1977 

“In the days of old, when knights were bold, 

And bravery and chivalry counted, 

A band of aviators, numbers untold, 

Really left the world astounded”. 

- ANON 

The Indian Air Force is all of 45 years old. The story 

you are going to read actually happened, but far 

away and long ago. Such things don’t happen in 

the air force anymore, for we’re a truly professional service 

now, with very effective supervision and a fanatical bend 

towards flight safety. What’s more, this is a first person 

story in which the author took part. Others involved have 

all met their just desserts, so names have been changed 

to protect the innocent and the guilty. 

On the 1st day of October, a Russian IL-13 aircraft 

was going from Palam to Calcutta. This happened about 

twenty years ago (do I detect a horde of film producers 

wanting to make a movie ‘ Bees saal pehle’?) and the day 

was a Saturday. 

First, let me tell you a bit about the IL-13; it was a 

Russian transport plane with two piston engines. The 

plane was designed to carry twenty six passengers or five 

thousand pounds of luggage. It was supposed to return 

to Palam at night the next day. Since it meant an ideal 

weekend in Calcutta, many people wanted a lift. The 

captain of the plane, Flight Lieutenant Charlie Dunn, had 

a heart of gold and couldn’t refuse anyone. Eventually, 

when it was time to take-off, the IL-13 had ten officers in 

it, twenty non-officers (known as ‘airmen’) giving a total 


INDIAN AIR FORCE

of thirty passengers. But in addition we also had six 

thousand pounds of luggage, two motor cycles ((their 

weight was five hundred pounds each) and two scooters 

(weighing a total of seven hundred pounds). To say that 

the plane was overloaded would be an understatement 

of the century. The last passenger was inserted with 

a shoe horn (something like sitting on a trunk being 

packed when the lid can’t be closed). It was warm and 

comfortable inside the IL-13 just as sardines would feel 

when they’re all snug in a sardine tin. 

There were two friends with me, Pilot Officers 

Chinmoy Chatterjee and Debu Basu. I was a Pilot Officer 

too, just at the beginning of my flying career. The three 

of us shared a common bond – we were all on our way to 

Calcutta to meet our respective fiancées. For me, it was 

extra special for the 2nd of October was my birthday (it 

still is). My parents were very farsighted and arranged 

for me to be born on the same date as the Father of the 

Nation, Mahatma Gandhi. So I always get a holiday on my 

birthday ! 

But back to the IL-13. 

We took off from Palam. Well, just about. 

The runway is 13,500 ft long and even the Jumbo Jet 

uses a trifle over 4000 ft to get off at Palam. We used the 

whole runway, since the Captain disliked available things 

not being fully utilized. We staggered in the air with 

all of six inches to spare and the IL-13 started climbing 

laboriously to 6,500 ft, our assigned cruising level. We 

should have normally reached that height within ten 

minutes – but took forty five minutes. The weather 

expected was fine en route, and both Charlie Dunn and 

the navigator Unni had done this trip umpteen times. 

And since Unni knew the route like the back of his hand, 

he didn’t bother to carry any maps. He couldn’t forget to 

have the back of the hand with him or could he? 

The moment we reached 6,500 ft we found ourselves 

in thick clouds and as it happened, we never saw the 

sun, earth, sky or stars in the remainder of that trip. The 

fuel consumption was much higher than usual because 

of the load and though we should normally have been 

able to fly for six hours, the navigator did a quick mental 

calculation (he didn’t much care for these new fangled 

computers lesser navigators used) and estimated that we 

could fly for four and a half hours. Since that was enough 

to take us to Calcutta, Charlie Dunn merely shrugged and 

took another puff at his pipe. 

The Gods were out to teach us a lesson; for in no time, 

all our radio navigation aids and our radio telephone 

‘packed up’. After three hours, Unni informed Charlie 

Dunn that we were completely and hopelessly lost, 

since the compass also failed. But he did say, we were 

somewhere between Palam and Calcutta to the best 

of his knowledge. He was very touchy about the joke 

wherein one navigator actually over the Atlantic told 

his Captain that according to his calculations they were 

above the St Pauls Cathedral in London. The Captain, 

another unflappable person like Charlie Dunn, merely 

doffed his cap and asked his navigator to do the same. 

We finally had half an hour’s fuel left and also just 

about that much left for sunset. Charlie Dunn decided 

to let down through the cloud even though ere snow 

he hadn’t the faintest idea where we were or whether 

there was any cloud gap above ground level – we could 

as well be flying into the ground in a blaze of glory. A 

metaphorical blaze only, since our fuel was almost gone 

and there was no risk of an actual fire. Our hearts were 

in our throats when we descended through the clouds 

towards imminent death. My entire brief life flashed 

through my mind and I suddenly found myself an ardent 

believer in God and started praying feverishly. I noticed 

a lot of other hands joined in prayer too, whilst the 

remainders were in deep meditation. The only exception 

was Flight Lieutenant Gyan Darshan who was grinning 

broadly – he never took life seriously. 

We finally came out under the cloud just five 

hundred feet above the ground. The sun had set already 

and it was getting dark, not helped at all by the fact that it 

was drizzling. We had just ten minutes of fuel left and still 

had no idea where we were. Charlie Dunn saw a railway 

line, and since railway lines normally lead to civilization, 

he decided to follow it. He didn’t know whether to turn 

right or left. He tossed a coin. It said right. So he turned 

left. By now there was just five minutes of fuel left, so 

Charlie decided to force land in a paddy field. 

His forced landing was a superb piece of airmanship. 

He landed with wheels down in a short paddy field. On 

his approach to land, I had all the passengers moved to 

the sides out of the payload which would have come 

crashing forward due to inertia and made mincemeat of 

the men in case we decelerated rapidly on touch down or 

the undercarriage broke or something. I certainly didn’t 

feel the confidence I was displaying for the sake of the 

airmen. 


The aeroplane came to a stop. It was pitch dark. 

Somebody yelled ‘Fire’ and there was immediate panic. I 

stood where I was, knowing there was no fuel left to feed 

any fire. But a lot of the other passengers made a dash for 

the exit, now a good ten feet off the ground, and jumped 

out into the darkness. They landed on each other and 

one person almost broke his spine in the process. No 

amount of saying or shouting ‘Keep Calm! Don’t Panic !” 

had any effect at all. 

The last person to descend from the plane, after the 

step ladder had been fitted, was Charlie Dunn himself, 

the Captain being the last off his beleaguered ship. He 

was smoking his pipe as usual and merely shrugging 

at being complimented on a perfect forced landing. In 

the American Air Force he’d probably have been given a 

medal for the forced landing. 

“Look here chaps”, he said, puffing at his pipe, “You’d 

all best disappear before any authorities arrive on the 

scene, since you shouldn’t have been on board anyway. 

Just forget you ever saw me or heard my name. Nope, I 

han’t the faintest idea where we are. Nor can I understand 

the language of these natives who’ve gathered around 

us with their torches.” 

Gyan Darshan didn’t need any further bidding. 

He hied off on his motorbike and attended a squadron 

party at Kalaikunda that night – it transpired we’d landed 

just fifteen miles away from the IAF base there, well and 

truly south of our intended route. 

The plane was recovered later. It was stripped off 

all non essential weight, filled with the very minimum 

amount of fuel, and flown out of that paddy field by a test 

pilot to Kalaikunda safe. Charlie Dunn was admonished 

and Unni stopped relying on his palm of the hand 

navigation. 

Our troubles though were far from over, Chinmoy and 

Debu, both Bengalis could make out the local dialect to an 

extent and we were guided through wet paddy fields for 

some miles in the dark carrying our luggage on our heads. 

That brought us to a road, and very fortunately a bus came 

along in minutes. We all piled in. When the conductor 

asked us our destination we were dumbfounded, still 

having no idea where we were. I had an inspiration and 

said ‘Calcutta’ at which the man beamed and rattled off 

the name of some incomprehensible railway station. That 

involved a bumpy five hour drive and finally we reached 

there soon after midnight, to find to our delight that a 

train to Calcutta was due in half an hour. We caught that 

train, and it got us to Calcutta at 4 AM. At 5:30AM, I was 

knocking at my fiancées door. The sight of her stole my 

heart away (sh’d already done that anyway) and all she 

could say as she beamed and we hugged each other was 

‘Happy Birthday, Darling.” 


INDIAN AIR FORCE

PUG 

Aug 1977 

on to where I could see the leader. The map stayed in 

my hand without following the navigation. I was literally 

being led. I had to shake myself when I saw some ducks 

miss me. Rather they saw me and gave me the right of 

way. I missed them. 

I had this yearning to land soon. On downwind, I 

kept repeating “check flaps and undercarriage” thought 

they were down and locked. Then came the fear of a flare 

out. What relief, I landed OK, just like after the first solo. 

Thank God, everything was normal. But the rest of the 

day I suffered in silence pondering over my stupidity. 

As brand new “Pilot Heads” we marched straight 

from the portals of the training institution to 

utilise the ‘privileges’ at the Mess bar, all this slow 

march to “Ault Lang Syne”. Those were the days we signed 

for cokes and cigarettes. We then became more sociable 

with the P-57 bit and graduated by drinking till closing 

time. Soon, I saw those black patches under my eyes and 

they got blacker after every sortie. 

So what ! I was young and keen to log a lot of 

experience. Besides, the Flt Cdr might think I’m chicken 

so there, I was soaring sky high even before the sortie; till 

one morning…….. 

Yes, it was a beautiful clear blue winter morning. The 

visibility was so good you could see for ever. The chill 

was quite a blessing for in my head were tiny hammers 

beating away. The night before, I had drunk myself silly 

with close friends at a trivial celebration. I got sick that 

night and retched most of the liquor, I had. 

I didn’t have the guts to tell the Flt Cdr of my 

predicament as his mood would turn sour. But it did. I 

just could not catch up in time after take-off. Position 

keeping in the fighting position was difficult. I just hung 

Boy was I lucky to get back from what a Court of 

Inquiry would conclude that – “On a low level navigation 

sortie the aircraft crashed and killed the pilot. The exact 

cause could not be determined”. Yes, they couldn’t have 

determined if I drank that night, my bar book was full ages 

ago and I was drinking on some other friend’s account. 

Never again, not for all the world, do I want to be six 

feet under for such a crazy act? 

“Why did I drink myself sick ? Why couldn’t I have 

told the Flt Cdr that I was unfit for flying ? Why did I 

take-off --- why ? Why ?” 

Because of foolishness. Just like the way you want to 

belt around on your motor-bike at 100 kmph. Adventure- 

--definitely not. This act is beyond any reason and even 

instinct. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. 

DFS Comment 

Fools never learn. The average man learns from his own 

experience. Better ones use other’ss experiences for their 

own benefit and learning. 

The author used to write under the pseudonym ‘PUG’. 

2 0 0 9 D e c e m b e r Flight Safety 21 

INDIAN AIR FORCE

Wg Cdr CN Venkatraman 

Apr 1978 

Once upon a time, the pilot of an aircraft came 

across a strange kind of obstruction to his flight. 

His plane was tossed about roughly. The aircraft 

was hit by stones of ice pelted from above. It grew dark 

and the pilot was frightened out of his wits. He prayed to 

God Almighty to save his life. Luckily God answered his 

prayers and he managed to land back safely. 

This was an occasion to celebrate and he did so in 

the evening at the bar. He recounted his experience to 

his friends around. He spoke of his miraculous escape. 

This force of fury he had encountered – “What was it” ? he 

asked. “Was it that thing called weather?” It was”, said the 

barman. In fact, he knew someone in the Met Department 

who used to draw figures on a chart and give what was 

termed as a weather forecast. The air force pilots should 

meet the Met-man and try to get a weather forecast. 

The next day the entire squadron invaded the Met 

office. The pilots nosed around for quite a while before 

they got a forecast. By the time they left the Met office, they 

had learnt enough about Met, lows and highs, warms and 

cold fronts, clouds and rain, cumulus and cumulonimbus 

and what not. It was quite interesting and they thought 

they should try to consolidate their knowledge. But 

they could not go every day to the Met office. So they 

asked the Met office to send them both the chart and the 

forecast so that (he prayed to God Almighty) if they lost 

either of them, they could still have the other. But the 

Met-man would send only the forecast and not the chart. 

And the forecast was difficult to understand, for it was 

written in a special language. Language was not a strong 

point with the air force chaps; they could manage slangs 

all right, but they found that the forecast was not related 

to the weather and the weather was not related to the 

pilot. Dissatisfaction grew and the air force decided to 

have both charts and forecasts. And they could also get 

Met briefing. 

So the Met service for the air force started, when 

some officers from the civil Met department came 

over and wore the uniform. The new Met officers were 

asked to look at the air and issue forecasts for flying and 

weather warnings for no flying. Of course, they were free 

to make some chart if they liked. They did like too make 

charts; they were asked about lows and highs at briefings 

and drew bigger and bigger lows and bigger and bigger 

highs. 

Meanwhile, the civil Met department expanded and 

developed. Technology advanced and new techniques 

came into being. Radars, computers, satellites and other 

new developments, brought about rapid changes. But 

the air force Met continued on its beaten tract unaffected 

by happenings all over the world. The outlook grew 

dim for the Met officers. Soon, many left the air force 

and returned to the civil department in search of other 

prospects. So the air force started recruiting its own Met 

officers. Bright young men with post graduate degrees 

went to the selection board to jump over hurdles and 

perform acrobatics and were appointed as air force Met 

officers. They came with high hopes and settled down to 

draw charts and write forecasts. Their eagerness to study 

and learn new techniques soon died a natural death. For 


INDIAN AIR FORCE

the air force felt that if a Met officer could just look at the 

air and give a forecast twenty-five years ago, why could 

he not do the same thing now ? Why does he want more 

facilities ? The service wants only a forecast from him. 

The Met officer was too timid to point out that the air 

force itself had changed a lot during the years. 

In the good old days it was small. The flying station 

was a compact family unit. The lone Met office was an 

integral part of the operational staff. He was in close touch 

with all flying activities of the station. The flying staff 

looked upon him as a consultant and advisor, who knew 

more about weather than they themselves did and not as 

a trader who dished out weather forecasts. Operational 

needs were limited and the demands on the Met officer 

were also limited, for everybody knew the limitations of 

the Met organisation and nobody expected the Met 

officer to be a prophet or a miracle worker. 

During the last twenty-five and more years the world 

has changed and our air force has also changed a lot. The 

country’s population has increased explosively and the 

air force has not lagged. Upgradation, expansion and 

upgradation have resulted in producing large stations 

and big flying units. Increase in population produces 

its own problems. Upgradation of posts has meant 

downgradation of work. Many pilots now do not see an 

aircrew for many days. They naturally do not see the Met 

officer. The number of Met officers has also increased and 

each station has now three or four of them working in 

shifts. But the personal touch with the totality of flying 

operations has been lost. They are no longer consultants 

and advisers; they have become shopkeepers (without 

identity) to dish out forecasts and Met briefings. After the 

briefing they have to go and look after their important 

secondary duties. But the demands on Met have 

multiplied tremendously. The operational needs have 

increased. The planning needs have grown on account of 

the increasing complexity of flying tasks. And moreover, 

a communication gap has come into being between 

the Met and the flying personnel. The operational and 

planning authorities no longer turn to the Met officer 

for consultation or discussion. In the stress and strain 

of their decision-making requirements, they ask for a 

‘pill’ from the Met officer which they could swallow with 

closed eyes. They make demands without caring to know 

what is possible and what is not possible in the realm of 

weather analysis. They are too busy to take any interest in 

the working of the Met organisation or help it to develop 

and keep pace with the progress of science all over the 

world. 

organization within it needs to develop itself to be above 

for fulfilling these special needs. 

DFS Comments 

Affectionately known as “cloudy” the Met man, is 

the first person, the operator sees and hears before any 

work commences in the field. The pill that he gives us 

invariably affects the ensuing day. Most feet that the 

weather affects their mood, flying and work in general. 

And yet a gloomy day may not necessarily mean a gloomy 

disposition for all. 

More so, weather has a direct bearing on flying 

operations. Aircrew must give the Met man a “feed-back” 

on the weather during his sortie and better still, it would 

be a good idea if the forecaster took advantage of a trip 

in an aircraft and see the environment for himself. 

Like someone asked, “If the weather were as 

predictable as holidays and eclipses, what in the world 

would everybody talk about?” 

TWO BIGGEST LIES IN THE IAF 

DASI - “We are here to help you” 

OC 

- “We are glad to have you” 

(From the “Are you properly dressed” 

mirror of the “Battle Axe” squadron, 

when DASI visited the outfit. ) 

Courtesy DASI Nov 1977 

The air force has its special needs and the Met 


Anonymous 

May 1978 

“How do you mean, snooping?” 

“The Station Flight Safety Officer is a real soft touch. 

He has a private office and a direct pipeline to the 

old man. If he played it right……..” 

“What’ll you have? You look a bit frustrated old 

Buddy!” 

“Yer right, gimme a beer. I had a hell of a day! – And 

it’s all because of that guy!” 

“Which guy are you referring to?” 

“What guy??- Who else – Super-Snoop. You know, 

that Station Flight Safety Officer, Flt Lt Dooley. He’s 

always nosing around, looking for an accident to happen. 

Never gives a minute’s rest. You wouldn’t believe half 

of the things he does! He won’t stay in his office where 

he’s supposed to, he’s got this little black book that he’s 

always writing in, a pocket full of checklists and he’s 

always snooping.” 

“Well, you know. The Station Flight Safety Officer 

is a real soft touch. He has a private office and a direct 

pipeline to the old man. If he played it right he could get 

himself promoted. If he only knew enough not to rock the 

boat. Listen– I’m an old sweat on, I know the score. This 

guy is just going about it the wrong way. If I had that job, 

I’d send out a few forms, posters and let the other guys do 

the work. Same results. Why snoop and get everybody’s 

back up. I can tell you, this guy won’t last”. 

“Why?” 

“Well, for instance. This morning he got the engineers 

all stirred up. Got them to fill in some big ditch he found 

on the field – a whole 20 feet off the side of the runway! 

said it couldn’t wait. Should be done now! He thinks 

some aeroplane is going to go off the runway and hit this 

ditch! A million to one chance and this guy is worrying.” 

“What else?” 


INDIAN AIR FORCE

“Oh yeah! He calls up the Station Chief Technical 

Officer every time he catches some poor jerk driving a 

tug down in the ramp of more than 15 miles an hour. Now 

you know that’s stupid! These guys have a lot of work 

to do and if they drive faster – they get it done quicker. 

Some of these guys can really handle those mules! And 

this character, for no reason at all starts cracking down. 

These guys are all driving so slow now they’re hazards to 

us normal drivers.” 

“Another beer?” 

“Yeah thanks. And furthermore, if this guy doesn’t 

quit poking around in other people’s business, I’m going 

to tell him off. We’ve hardly had any accidents around 

here and even if we did it would probably be some jerk 

pilot who didn’t know his job. Dooley’s a worrier. Always 

taking the most pessimistic view of every situation. 

Collects rocks, nuts, bolts and metal trash, keeps them in 

his office. Thinks he’s Sherlock.Holmes always trying to 

find out where they came from – as if that would make any 

difference. He’s got ‘FOD’omania! And now he’s talking 

about – Would you believe – MICRO FOD! You’d think we 

were running a hospital instead of an aerodrome. I never 

heard of MICRO FOD. And listen to this. This character 

has made up an accident prevention checklist – a mile 

long. He gives one to every supervisor – even guys who 

have nothing to do with aeroplanes. And he follows them 

up by asking question! He reads everybody’s orders and 

procedures and gets his nose into everything. He keeps 

a bigger cardex file than the IB. You better believe it! 

He checks into everything! Just the other day, he starts 

looking into everybody’s tool box. Wants a checklist on 

every tool box. Talks to all the mechanics. Wastes their 

time by showing them flight safety movies in their coffee 

breaks. Asks all kinds of nutty questions about morale 

and what kind of personal problems these guys have got. 

He’s an amateur psychologist! He really believes that if 

guys are unhappy, they’re more likely to have accidents.” 

Well, I think that he’s doing it all wrong. He’s 

been here two years working 24 hours a day, minding 

everybody’s business, printing checklists like confetti, 

worrying everybody about accidents, looking for dust 

and dirt in the hangars, showing movies, giving lectures, 

writing memos, letters, checklists – and you know what?” 

“No, What?” 

“It’s a complete waste of time! We haven’t had an 

aircraft accident around here for years!” 

“You mean like about two years? Have another 

beer.” 

“No, let me get this one.” 

“No need to. They’re free tonight. Dooley just 

got promoted.” 

“No! You’re putting me on! I can’t believe 

it! That just shows the whole system is 

unfair. Here this young smart pants, hardly 

dry behind the ears, gets promoted and 

for what? And here I am, twice as much 

seniority as him, always support the 

Mess, laugh at all the CO’s jokes and 

what happens to me? 

It just isn’t fair!” 

“Thanks-just a small one. My wife says I drink too 

much. Where was I? Oh yeah, Dooley. As I said, I think 

there is something queer about this guy. He believes all 

that flight safety jazz. I mean he really believes it! He’s on 

the snoop 24 hours a day and never lets anybody forget 

about aircraft accidents. I think he is some kind of a nut. 

A safety maniac!” 

“Yes just once more. That’s my last one! If I drink 

any more, old super-snoop will be checking my flight 

schedule for tomorrow. Cripes! What can you do about a 

guy like that? He’s got everybody on the station thinking 

about accidents! I can’t go anywhere on the station 

without seeing one of his ghastly posters. 


Mar 1974 

One hazy, hot day in May 1973 two MiG pilots went up for a practice 1 vs 1 combat sortie. It was a simple sortie, 

simpler than the hundreds flown each day at our various fighter squadrons, but there was something special 

about this one. For one pilot, his sortie was the end of the road – his clock read z minus 11 min when he took off. 

The two aircraft took off, climbed to 6 km and started a briefed air combat situation. They descended to 2 km, called 

off the fight and climbed back to 5 km for a second round. Once again, they descended to 2 km and the fight was called 

off. The leader’s speed was 550 kmph. The No 2 descended to join up in fighting position but was too close with a large 

angle off and consequently flew through behind and below his leader. He then pulled up and perched high, slightly 

behind the leader and on his right. 


INDIAN AIR FORCE

The leader stopped turning when he saw the fly 

through and after a pause started a gentle turn to the 

right to see what the No 2 was up to. At this time, the No 

2 again tried to join up in fighting. Once again he was too 

close and at a large angle off. The descent was steep and 

he again flew through behind and below the leader. At 

this stage, the leader turned away from the No 2 to help 

him join up. But at that instant, the No 2 was in trouble. 

He had only 15 seconds to live. 

When the leader eventually levelled out and looked 

for his No 2, he was nowhere in sight. After a few seconds, 

he saw an aircraft far below him and almost immediately 

it crashed. The pilot did not survive since he ejected too 

late. 

What happened? Why did this simple sortie end in 

disaster? Let us look at the significant facts. 

• The leader was in a gentle level turn maintaining 

550 kmph at a height of 2 km indicated, about 1.7 Km 

AGL. 

• The leader was turning into the No 2. 

• The No 2’s fly through is understandable. He 

would have tried to stop the fly through by pulling harder. 

The speed would have dropped to about 500 kmph. 

After flying through, he pulled up and perched high and 

behind. The speed would have dropped some more. Say 

about 400 to 450 kmph. 

• The leader reversed his turn and was again turning 

into the No 2. 

• The No 2 was set up for another fly through and 

could see it coming. He tried to stop it with more 

heart than the first time. The speed would have dropped 

even more. Say about 400 kmph. 

• The descent for the second join up was steep. 

• A tight descending turn at about 400 kmph 

without reheat was established. The pilot wanted to 

avoid getting below his leader and pulled back on the 

stick. That is what caused the aircraft to develop a high 

sink rate and stall. 

Why did the pilot not recover from this stalled 

condition? 

Presumably because he did not use the correct 

technique of centralising the elevator control to permit 

the aircraft to stablise in an attitude corresponding to its 

flight path and apply full reheat power to get compensated 

for the drag rise. Unless this is done the aircraftwill not 

accelerate and recovery will be impossible. 

Why did the pilot not eject at a safe height? 

Most probably he did not know the relationship between 

minimum safe ejection height and rate of descent. 

What else could have contributed to this accident? 

• The pilot most probably forgot to select flaps up 

after combat. Extended flaps at reduced speed would 

have increased the drag. 

• And what about the leader turning into the No 2 

while he attempted to join up? 

The Air Combat season is with us now and May is not far 

away. The time is right for some refresher ground training 

to clear up confused ideas. Gen up on the following: 

• Low speed and stall characteristics of your aircraft 

with particular reference to the onset of the stall without 

warning during combat manoeuvring at high angles 

of attack and low speeds. Remember that under these 

conditions there would be an induced rate of descent 

for which the VSI is the only positive guide. To recover, 

get your wings level, push the stick forward and build up 

speed with reheat, wherever possible. (Unlike the Sukhoi, 

there may be warning of stall in the MiG.) Do not get on 

the wrong side of the power curve, a high performance 

aircraft cannot be manoeuvred in the low speed/high 

drag regime without adequate power (reheat). 

• Minimum height for safe recovery at various 

speeds. 

• Minimum safe ejection height, depending on the 

rate of descent. 


Picerian 

Jul 1975 

What is stress and what does it do to you? A 

chapter in Aviation Psychology explains this in 

much detail and the jargon is impressive. While 

there are myriad stresses which can attack pilots, I would 

like to isolate two which merit a pilot’s consideration 

and understanding. These are stresses associated with 

ego and survival. I consider these to be most important 

because they probably cause more accidents than any 

other factor and can strike at pilots any time during 

flight.’ 

Ego stress shows up during any form of competition. 

It matters little whether this is in the air, on the ground, in 

the class room or at a gunnery range. Sometimes it afflicts 

us on the road while driving or even during a friendly 

discussion. The trouble starts with the fear of losing or 

when you cannot hold your own. Consider a gunnery 

sortie. The bullets undershoot and you curse. The bullets 

undershoot again and you curse again. The third time 

you take it out on the aircraft. What happens under 

similar circumstances on the ground? You bash your 

hands together or bang your head or fist the furniture. 

The important thing to note is that such emotion does 

not improve your performance. In fact, it causes further 

deterioration. Such behaviour is the first sign of 

failure to cope with ego stress. The pressure is on the 

individual since you cannot hold your own, you get 

into a rage. 

Survival stress hits you when you feel your 

security is at stake. This usually happens in war or when 

a serious flight emergency catches you unawares. Such 

stress generates fear which is normally a good thing 

for survival. If this fear is not kept under rigid control, 

it rapidly becomes panic and a pilot no longer remains 

a rational or capable person and an accident becomes 

inevitable. 

Put in a nutshell, stress causes 

emotion. Mild emotion is a 

good thing because it 

helps us cope with 

stress. Strong 

emotion spells 

disaster. Many 

factors control 

emotions but 

no pilot can 

afford to lose 

control over his 

emotions while 

flying. He must 

at all times control 

his emotions and 

remain above himself 

and the situation. 


INDIAN AIR FORCE

How? 

Many years before I learnt about stress and emotion, 

I discovered in myself a tendency to lash out when under 

ego stress. Loss of temper and rages always decreased 

my performance, particularly at the air to ground range 

or in air combat and I could see no way to improve when 

I desperately wanted to do better. Then one day, when 

every fibre within me wanted to throw a fit and when my 

muscles were tensed to bash the aircraft, some inner voice 

said – relax, smile! I relaxed and smiled. Suddenly I was 

able to recollect clearly what had happened and why, and 

was easily able to correct my errors. I learnt then, how to 

control my emotion and how to keep calm under stress. 

For years afterwards I would wriggle my bottom into a 

comfortable position and remind myself continuously 

to ‘relax and smile’. I became better at my job of flying a 

fighter aircraft. 

On another occasion, as my aircraft’s wheels 

touched the runway, something went wrong and the 

aircraft became uncontrollable. In about a micro second 

it occurred to me that I was a goner and the almost 

instinctive ‘relax – smile’ conditioning took over. In the 

next micro second brain, hands and legs were working in 

one smooth coordinated effort to survive. It worked. 

Stress induced emotion must be kept under control. 

If it goes out of control, our margin of attention narrows 

and we become less aware of what is happening around 

us and lose sight of what needs to be done. I found a 

simple way of keeping my emotions under control, no 

matter what the stress was. I had to relax and actually 

smile. It did not work if I merely said smile and kept a tight 

face. The facial muscles had to wear a smiling mask. 

Try it sometime. It may work for you. 

The author used to write under the pseudonym ‘Picerian’. 


Spring 1972 

Flight Guardian is the Flight Safety Magazine of the IAF and it has some Very Important Readers. They include : 

Chief of Air Staff 

Station Commanders 

Groundcrew 

Scientists 

PSOs, AOs C-in-C 

Aircrew 

Test Pilots 

Technicians 

And some people we can’t name! 

VERY IMPORTANT PEOPLE, all vitally concerned that our aircrew fly well and that our aircraft and equipment 

work efficiently. You are one of them. 

FLIGHT GUARDIAN is produced directly for you in the service, who fly and YOU who keep them flying. It is 

YOUR magazine. It is intended to be a platform for your experience, to share your ideas and problems, to let 

you know what people like you are thinking and doing and what is being done to help you do your job well. 

FLIGHT GUARDIAN NEEDS YOU 

Not only as a reader but also as a contributor. We want those ideas of yours, those arguments, those stories, 

those photographs and accounts of what you are doing. We don’t get enough of them. If you’ve got something 

interesting to say about flying or maintenance in the IAF, let us have it. Tell us if you like YOUR Flight Guardian 

and if you don’t say what you’d like to see in YOUR magazine. If you’ve a suggestion for a good article, push 

it along – direct to the Editor, Flight Guardian, Directorate of Flight Safety, Air Headquarters, New Delhi. 

THERE ARE ROUGHLY 25,000 WORDS IN AN ISSUE OF FLIGHT GUARDIAN – YOUR’S SHOULD BE SOME OF 

THEM 

PS: FOR THOSE IN HIGH PLACES: Please don’t forget that in the Flight Guardian you can pass on the distilled 

wisdom of your experience to the younger generation. 

LET US NOT LOSE THESE PRICELESS BENEFACTIONS FOR EVER. 


INDIAN AIR FORCE

Anonymous 

The volumes of required reading for aircrew have 

multiplied over the last few years to what many now 

regard as an unacceptable level. In consequence, 

come the magic first day of the month, weighty tomes 

of statute legislation and advice are laid upon the ops 

desk and opened at the page reserved for signature. 

The hurried scrawl inserted, signifying as having read, is 

possibly little more than most of these books are worth. 

Why do we bother ? No one reads the books regularly 

anywhere. The monthly signature is therefore in theory 

and practice nothing but a book requirement, or is it ? 

Possibly the orders exists to ensure that ‘they’ can 

always get you for something, and to give someone the 

secondary duty of keeping them up-to date. This aspect is 

of some importance. If you are not promptly confronted 

with amendments, your officer i/c order books is not 

doing his job properly – point No 1. The order books 

them selves do have relevance to a new member of the 

squadron – point No 2. (He can always spend the first 

few days reading them). They have an interest value – 

point No 3, since even a cursory browse, if you can’t find 

anything better to do, should reveal some error or point 

of confliction to produce a heated debate. The books 

are informative – point No 4 – usually to tell you what 

you’ve done wrong after you’ve done it (and hopefully 

before you commit yourself to an incident report). Finally, 

point No 5 - should the pen prove to be mightier than the 

sword, we may have under our very noses ammunition to 

confound the enemy if not to defeat him. 

Nov 1977 

Seriously though, it is acknowledged that there is 

an awful lot to read. We can help ourselves by reviewing 

our orders for relevance, and discarding those which are 

out of date, or of no consequence. If this is applied, at 

unit level, to the order books we are supposed to read, 

it is possible to produce a new slim-line series which it is 

easier to keep abreast of. We shall still 

have to sign the books monthly, 

but at least it might be feasible 

to read them as well. 


On 28 Jun 09, Sqn Ldr V Valsalan (27028-G) Adm/ATC was detailed as a GCA controller at a 

flying base. A scheduled airliner declared an emergency concerning loss of an engine and 

requested radar assistance. Sqn Ldr V Valsalan, realising the gravity of the situation, adjusted 

the sequence of other arriving traffic and immediately vectored the aircraft for a surveillance 

approach, giving the pilot frequent position information to recover the aircraft safely. He 

simultaneously alerted the aerodrome controller, who initiated the primary alarm. 

Sqn Ldr V Valsalan displayed a high degree of professionalism and situational awareness 

in handling a critical emergency to recover an aircraft by the most expeditious means and 

contributed towards flight safety. 

Good Show Sqn Ldr V Valsalan 

(SS Soman) 

Air Cmde 

PDFS 

ON 17 Jul 09, Flt Lt D Autade 27711-G F(P) was detailed to fly a 2 vs 1 DACT sortie. After getting 

airborne, there was smoke in the cockpit and he was unable to see the flight instruments 

clearly. He gave a call to the leader and took appropriate actions. The smoke however, did not 

reduce and an overweight priority landing had to be carried out. Despite being unable to see the 

flight instruments clearly and with the aircraft weight well above the normal landing weight, he 

managed to recover the aircraft safely. 

Flt Lt D Autade 27711-G F(P) recovered the aircraft professionally and helped avert a possible 

accident/incident. 

Good Show Flt Lt D Autade 

(SS Soman) 

Air Cmde 

PDFS 


INDIAN AIR FORCE

On 01 Jul 09, 912376-N LAC CH Appa Rao AF Fit, was detailed as aircraft inspector on a MiG 

-21 (T-96) aircraft. During final inspection of the aircraft for a sortie, he noticed the split pin 

of the bolt holding the bracket to the fork of the nose oleo missing and indicated the same to the 

pilot for aborting the mission. 

LAC CH Appa Rao’s observation helped in averting a possible nose wheel tyre deflation or a 

tyre burst at a critical stage of flight. 

Good Show LAC CH Appa Rao 

(SS Soman) 

Air Cmde 

PDFS 

On 26 Aug 09, 914900-L, Leading Aircraftsman Kalva Sudheer Kumar Propulsion Fitter was 

deployed in the DSS of a Su- 30 squadron. During a ground run clearance check on the 

starboard engine, Leading Aircraftsman Kalva Sudheer Kumar noticed a hair line crack on the 

port aero-engine turbine breathing valve of the aircraft. Further inspection revealed a large crack 

near the turbine breather valve. Had this crack gone unnoticed it could have led to catastrophic 

damage. 

Leading Aircraftsman Kalva Sudheer Kumar averted an accident due to his keen observation 

and professionalism. 

Good Show LAC Kalva Sudheer Kumar 

(SS Soman) 

Air Cmde 

PDFS 


On 21 Jun 09, 769225-T Sergeant Amar Nath Sharma Flight Engineer was detailed for trade 

duties in a Mi-17 IV helicopter for an air maintenance sortie. During the pre flight checks, 

he noticed a crack in a remote area of the first support housing the port engine. Detailed 

investigations revealed that the crack could have caused a catastrophic failure. 

Sgt Amar Nath Sharma displayed a high degree of professionalism and keen sense of 

observation which helped in averting a mishap in the air. 

Well Done Sgt Amar Nath Sharma 

(SS Soman) 

Air Cmde 

PDFS 

On 27 Jul 09, 775113-G Cpl P K Mishra Air Frame Fitter was detailed for servicing on an IL-76 

aircraft. In the course of his duty, the airwarrior noticed a crack in the bell crank system of 

the middle door. This resulted in arresting further damage to the cargo door. If the crack had 

gone unnoticed it could have led to an untoward incident. 

Cpl P K Mishra displayed keen sense of involvement and prevented a possible incident in 

the air. 

Well Done Cpl PK Mishra 

(SS Soman) 

Air Cmde 

PDFS 


INDIAN AIR FORCE

On 10 Aug 09, 914853-A Leading Aircraftsman Rajesh Ranjan Propulsion Fitter was detailed 

for DI on a Su-30 fighter aircraft. During start up, the air warrior noticed a few drops of fuel 

leaking from the starboard engine. He inspected the fuel leak from close quarters and proceeded 

to examine the affected panel to rule out fuel accumulation. Subsequently, detailed investigations 

revealed fuel leak from the turbo starter fuel pipe union. Had this leak gone unnoticed, it 

would have led to serious consequences. 

Leading Aircraftsman Rajesh Ranjan showed keen observation and to prevent a possible 

incident/ accident. 

Well Done LAC Rajesh Ranjan 

(SS Soman) 

Air Cmde 

PDFS 

On 03 Aug 09, 914950-F Leading Aircraftsman VK Yadav Engine Fitter was detailed to for DI 

on an Avro aircraft. During LFS, the air warrior noticed cracks on the starboard jet pipe tray. 

Further investigation revealed hot gas leak through the crack. This could have caused high 

temperature around the fuel pipe lines and lead to a major fire in the air. 

Leading Aircraftsman VK Yadav, despite his limited experience on the aircraft displayed a 

high degree of professionalism and good observation to avert a possible accident. 

Well Done LAC VK Yadav 

(SS Soman) 

Air Cmde 

PDFS 


Anonymous 

Out of every 330 accidents, 1 person will be killed and 29 injured. Those are pretty good poker playing 

odds. 

So why all the fuss about safety? 

That was the question asked by a class of students attending a safety course. The instructor, anticipating 

the query, produced a bottle of white pills. 

“In this bottle:”, he announced, “are 330 white pills, each exactly alike in appearance and taste. Three 

hundred are harmless candy pills and will produce no ill effects. Twenty-nine pills contain a drug 

which causes slight nausea. One contains a poison and will be fatal if taken internally”. 

He passed the bottle around and asked each student to take a pill. “Now”, he said, “I want each of you 

to swallow the pill you have chosen”. 

Not one of the students did. 

The instructor made his point. 

No matter how great the odds, no one would take the chance. 

Yet, in everyday activities, many continue to flaunt the odds by hedging on common sense safety 

practices. 

Accidents don’t always happen to the other person. Somebody is the one person killed in every 330 

accidents. 

It could be you. 

The odds are 329 to 1. DO YOU WANT TO TAKE THAT CHANCE ? 

Nov 1977 


INDIAN AIR FORCE

How many great ideas 

end here... 

...because your ideas on Flight Safety never get beyond the 

stage of a pencil scribble or discussion at the bar. Now we are here 

to hear you and spread those ideas throughout the Air Force. Don’t 

hesitate, act now, get that paper and pencil and send those articles 

you have always wanted to send us. 

Feb 1978 

Round-the-clock contact of PD Flight Safety: Tele: 011-26187154, Mob: +91-9717095606 e-mail: pdfs_iaf_in@indiatimes.com 

Articles/Suggestions may be sent to: Editor, Flight Safety Magazine, Institute of Flight Safety, New Delhi-110 010 e-mail: editorfsmiaf@yahoo.com, editorfsmiaf@rediff.com

December 2009 - Indian Airforce

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?