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R.E.M - Imitation of Life |
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Disclaimer: I am a career pacifist, currently in rehab, what do I do if they keep on sending these news links?!!?
There is a Tom Cruise(ref: ‘Maverick’, Top Gun) in each one of us, whether you like it or not. This realization is reported to creep up on unsuspecting victims at air shows featuring fighter-jets. A couple of weekends ago, we were given a choice by Elmendorf Air-force Base - either stay at home and have your tympanums ruptured (this concerns all the people who live in a 3-4 mile radius, which includes us) or come to the Base, watch Maverick, Iceman and their buddies show off their F-A/18 Hornet maneuvers at mere single digit machs and have your tympanums ruptured. We chose the second option assuming the loss of hearing could be compensated by some gravity defying entertainment and promptly carted ourselves off to Elmendorf.
After gaping skyward with open mouths at this amazing show of aerial aerobics, for four straight hours, in addition to being in the ‘Maverick’ of all spirits, I chanced upon two pearls of enlightenment, - Mankind is yet to invent a pickup line that can beat the deadly irresistible combo of a G-suit, Ray bans, and a fighter pilot’s swagger (all the more effective if you really are a fighter pilot) - Fighter jet (whether it is an F-16, a Sukhoi or a MiG) is one mean machine, a zillion times better than a Ferrari doing a measly 200 mph on some Monaco circuit. Move over Schumi or better still, get yourself one of these babies!
And then.., there are some fighter jets which doesn’t have much fight left in them. Ask the Indian Air force. If you consider just the last four years, IAF had about 120 fighter jet crashes, majority of these crashes took the pilots’ lives as well. Warbirds of India, is an excellent site about the fighter planes and the pilots of IAF, with a searchable data base on IAF crashes.
IAF fighter jets are an exception to the rule of retirement. The pilots have to fly the required number of sorties a year no matter the air worthiness of their flying machines. That’s when aerial acrobatics ceases to be for entertainment but becomes a necessary survival skill. In order to make it back to the ground alive and with the machine in one piece, the IAF man has got only one weapon in his arsenal – his experience & skill.
Maybe that will explain this news to some extent
WASHINGTON, June 23 2004 -- The success of the Indian air force against American fighter planes in a recent exercise suggests other countries may soon be able to threaten U.S. military dominance of the skies, a top Air Force general said Wednesday. ................. The U.S.-India joint exercise, "Cope India," took place in February near Gwalior in central, India. It pitted some F-15C Eagle fighters from the 3rd Wing at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, in mock combat against Indian MiG, Sukhoi and Mirage fighters. The full news which is about two weeks old is here
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