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Super Dimona aircraft for cadets
The National Defence Academy (NDA) today
acquired the Super Dimona  aircraft
for training its Air Force cadets. Formally
handing over the aircraft, Air Chief
Marshal A Y Tipnis said, "Flying
requires discipline, dedication and motivation,
whether you were flying as a cadet or as
a senior officer. Every time you cadets
go up in an aircraft, you must bring it
down safe and sound". Speaking on the
occasion, Lt General S B S Kochar,
the Commandant of the Academy said, "Till
date, the flying training of Air Force cadets
was being conducted on Andhra gliders, which
are winch-towed. With the advancements in
aviation, the need was felt to introduce
training on powered aircraft to derive maximum
benefit in terms of flying time and keeping
in view the future training needs."
Asked why the Air Force was sending the
MI-26 helicopters to Russia for servicing,
the Chief answered, "All first and
second line servicing is done in the country.
The depot servicing is being done in Russia,
as the number of helicopters we have is
small and for that number we cannot have
the complete infrastructure".
 On
the recent report that Pakistan was acquiring
an AWACS plane from Brazil, the Air Chief
remarked, "We are also in process of
acquiring a suitable AWACS Platform and
various possibilities are being tested".
On asked if the spate of air crashes had
demoralized the pilots, he answered, "The
morale of the pilots is high. We are in
the process of inducting better technology,
most importantly the Sukhoi - 30, which
to my mind is the best fighter aircraft
in the world at the moment".
When asked how long the Advanced Jet Trainer
would take to be inducted, he replied, "The
contract is yet to be signed. One must understand
that the contract signing process is a long
one, various things need to be negotiated
with the suppliers. We are hopeful that
the contract will be signed by the end of
this year."
By Rahul Surkund
Pic Courtesy- Mr. Ahmed Shaikh
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