Sam Sekhar’s Kahanis from the Marut Handi IX

MURPHY’S LAW OR WHAT WAS ON RAVI’S MIND

The tallest Flying Officer in the Marut fleet returns from his Annual Leave.
He has a completely different look about him.
He has a lilt in his voice.
He has a jaunty walk.
He is grinning from ear to ear all the time.
There is a glint in his eye and he is walking on “CLOUD NINE”.
There is much speculation in the “FLIGHTS” as to his malady.
Many theories are floated and BOBCAT nails it by concluding “Ravi got LUCKY”.
All  agree.

Sam Sekhar’s KAHANIS FROM THE MARUT HANDI – VIII

EXERCISE ANNIHILATE

This Command had just come into existence and the Boss with his Operations staff elected to have an air exercise to show the powers that be(both military and civilian)that the Air Defence of the sector was in safe hands. The aim was to show that any air threat would be well detected in time and would be annihilated well before coming close to the target. he Ops 1 A/B/C/D/Z got busy and wrote out the Preamble-Aim-Mission-100% Kill Rate and concluded that all enemy aircraft that dared to strike were shot down, with ZERO losses from the Air Defence Element.

Sam Sekhar’s KAHANIS FROM THE MARUT HANDI – VI

THE DEBRIEF

Low flying was permitted all day long in those days and most sorties were not below 30 feet.

A Marut pilot and his wife are dropped off at the railway station early in the morning by his two friends on his way to Bombay on annual leave.

Flying proceeds normally in the Marut fleet.

Sam Sekhar’s KAHANIS FROM THE MARUT HANDI – IV

A CASE OF BEE-DOUBLE OH-ZEE-EEE

 On a hot Saturday afternoon in the comfort of an air conditioned conference room (BAR) pilots were waxing eloquently on the many flying aspects of the MARUT. One particular asset being discussed was the ferry speed being the fastest in the world. Cheetah and Bobcat were leaving in a few days to drop off two Maruts at Bangalore for Major Servicing. Bobcat said he would be back the same day by civil air in Jodhpur. The wager was on. All participants of the wager swore on the Official Secrets Act that the wager would be Top Secret.

SK’s story : How I flew the HF-24 backwards -and lived to talk about it.

I really don’t know as to how many people are going to believe this incident/story . Very few, perhaps be the people who have flown with me and know me as person of integrity, at least as far as flying was concerned. To the layman it may be quite uninteresting, if not downright meaningless, but to the Aviator it would be of considerable interest because they would be in a position to not only imagine what it must have been like inside the cockpit but also in the pilot’s mind at each step of the flight profile. Plus, they would be able to understand the Aerodynamic situation and how true it could or could not be. So the credibility would also be better understood by them.

In any case it is to this lot of people that this story is being addressed to. The heading  should  give a lot of hints of things to come. If they can follow me at each step of the way they too would have felt a sense of good fortune that accompanied me at each step, all the way, and also perhaps remind them of several such incidents in their flying career which they never spoke about. And to all of them I would request that they too should come out with stories and incidents that they have been keeping in their ‘closets’ so far.

Sam Sekhar’s KAHANIS FROM THE MARUT HANDI – III

S.L.A.M
SHORT LANDING A MARUT

The great war of 1971 was over and a whole slew of Air Defence pilots from the EAST were posted to the Marut fleet. They were all Flight lieutenants and were being trained by (Flying Officers), fully ops Marut pilots. During those days, the rejoin peel off and landing of the U/T ops pilot was always under scrutiny. Any slip up was known to one and all and the butt of many a good ribbing. One nice sunny morning a Two aircraft Panther formation rejoined at low level (50 feet) along Runway 23 around 450 Knots. The Leader (Flight Commander) did a whip lash peel off, went into a 5 G turn, stood the Marut on its left wing and the only time his bank and “G” came off , was when he touched down. Panther 2, U/T OPS, was equally good in the peel off and curved approach. 

India In The Sky

Got this in a mail.

Maybe this is old hat to many of you. It’s the first time I’ve seen it. All I can say is that “I am pretty damn impressed”

HF-24 Problems From Its Design

By Group Captain Kapil Bhargava VM (Retd)

 

This is the third and final part of my personal story of Design & Development of the HF-24. My earlier caution declared before the text of Part 1 stands for this Part 3 as well, hopefully the last one on the subject. To remind, this is also from memory and should be taken as my personal and coloured views. Please do not treat any of these articles as authentic history of the HF-24 project.

The 5100th Martin Baker Ejectee: Sam Sekhar

SAFETY JOURNAL MAY-77

 

….. And Five Minutes

    After Lift off

By: Flt Lt SVR Sekhar

 1130 Hrs 5 Oct 76

 You land after the second detail……..and are told that “you are on a static display in Delhi and take off is in three hours  time”.A quick change to rush home and pack a suitcase…….and you are told to hold fire  as the take off has been delayed to 0730 hrs the next day. As you get some time to breathe you decide to look after Admin arrangements at Palam. A quick call informing the course-mate of your arrival the next day…….and requesting him to pick you up.You inform all agencies to keep the necessary information ready for 0600 hrs the next day…. And you drive home, and gently break it to the wife that “you are off on a two day trip”.Mumble,Mumble, grumble…..  and you get a mouthful of what the spouse thinks of the Air Force and its impromptu moves.You cool the situation by telling her that good saris are available at Delhi………and wasn’t she just two days back yearning for some? The Mumble,Mumble, grumble dies down slowly and the suitcase starts getting packed.When you inform her of the awakening time on the morrow she gets very flight safety conscious,…… and locks up the liquor cabinet……… and serves dinner at 2000 hrs. You commence the Mumble. Mumble grumble…..and are promptly told to pipe down.

Kempy’s Nose – An incredible story of bravery and camaraderei.

Destiny works in mysterious ways. A few days ago I was bemoaning the fact that I was starved for material. Then out of the blue lands an email from AVM Milind Shankar forwarding a most amazing and exciting account that made me prouder than ever of having served in the Indian Air Force. Certainly the best story that exists on this blog. I do hope someone can identify ‘Cyclic’ and that this story rings a bell with some others.

Some of you may have already seen this, but this story just cannot be read often enough. For its sheer audacity, guts, humour and the bond of true brotherhood, this story will be hard to read without some moistening of the eyes and holding your head up high – all because of Cyclic’s act of madness! So when you bend your elbow this evening, raise your glass to Cyclic first and then to Kempy’s nose!