It will be sortie number 500 for IAF’s aerobatic team Surya Kirans, taking to the skies for the first time with six Advanced Jet Trainer Hawks. The team was temporarily withdrawn by the IAF after the ageing Kiran trainer aircraft were reallocated.
Surya Kirans had first forayed into the air show scene in the 1996 Aero India. Although the team has been undertaking rehearsal sorties for the last two to three days for the show, flying the Hawk remains a challenge for the pilots. The average speed of the earlier Kiran trainers was about 450 kmph, while the Hawks are much faster at around 650 kmph.
(Published 13 February 2017, 20:33 IST)
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