JOIN USDespite the gravity-defying air displays hogging all the limelight on the first day of the Aero India show on Wednesday, a dedicated bunch of aviation enthusiasts made a beeline for the two Tejas (Mk 1 and Mk 2) simulators that were on display.
This is the first such display of the Tejas Mk 2 simulator, as well as the simulator of the final prototype of the Tejas Mk1, that was handed to the Air Force just last month.
Tucked away in a corner of the hall that housed exhibitions from the Defence Research and Development Organisation, it would not have been a surprise to find this section empty.
However, one could see a regular flow of visitors who were in awe of the near-real display of how these two indigenously built machines functioned.
G S Gill, a businessman from Chandigarh, stood in rapt attention as the automatic Tejas Mk1 simulator did loops, lines, rolls and spins, fired missiles and flew through a sunny weather and a rainy day. “I have seen simulators of the Sukhoi and Rafale and I feel that this one is much better. Our technology in aircraft is definitely improving,” Gill said. “I have been a regular at the previous three aero shows and was part of the very first show in 1996,” he said.
The only grouse enthusiasts like Gill had was the fact that they could not manoeuvre the simulator from the cockpit.
The Tejas Mk 2 simulator, on the other hand, can be fully controlled from a cockpit and people from senior scientists to IAF engineers were more than keen to mount it. Although open only to VIPs and VVIPs, authorities at the venue said they would not mind giving the public a chance to sit in the cockpit, in some cases.