By IANS,
New Delhi : President Pratibha Patil will make a sortie in the Indian Air Force’s frontline Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jet Nov 25, air force chief P.V.Naik said Tuesday.
“The president will fly in the Su-30 MKI Nov 25 from Lohegaon airbase (Pune),” Air Chief Marshal Naik told reporters.
The 74-year-old Patil, who is the supreme commander of the Indian armed forces, will make history by becoming the first woman to fly in an IAF fighter plane.
The IAF is hunting for a G-suit (anti-gravity suit) for her. The G-suit helps the pilot in withstanding high gravitational pressure during the flight as it prevents excessive blood from flowing to the brain.
Patil, who will be following in the footsteps of her predecessor A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, will be undergoing mandatory health tests before the sortie.
The first woman president of the country, Patil would also become the first woman to fly in an IAF fighter plane. The air force currently has 784 women officers working in different branches, but as present they are barred from the fighter stream.
Earlier, Kalam, the father of the Indian missile programme, had taken a ride in a submarine in 2006 and followed it up with a sortie in a Sukhoi the same year. He too made his debut flight on a fighter from Lohegaon air base at Pune.