Ratan Tata flies F-16 in Aero India-2007

Bangalore, Feb 8 (UNI) Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata today took to the skies in a state-of-the-art F-16 Fighting Falcon of the US military aircraft major Lockheed Martin (LM) at the Aero India-2007 air show at Yelahanka air base of the Indian Air Force here.

Emerging from the cockpit of the US-made multi-role fighter, Mr Tata (69), flying the thunderbird as a co-pilot along with LM's chief test pilot Paul Hattendrof, said ''it was a great experience flying a F-16. It was exciting...an exhilarating experience. I flew at heights suited for supersonic speed and came down to as low as 500 ft above ground level. Given a chance I would love to fly again.'' As the leading industrialist and flying enthusiast, who had a commercial pilot licence, came on the tarmac after alighting from the jet fighter, he was besieged by a posse of media personnel.

However, the journalists did not get a chance to interact with him.

Mr Hattendrof said Mr Tata had control of the aircraft for a major part of the flight and performed maneouvres quite well. ''I did not take any extra precautions because of Mr Tata's age. We flew at a speed of 1.3 mach (600 knots) and at a height of 18,000 feet.'' ''We also tried some aerobatic exercises. We were talking for most of the time. In the beginning, Mr Tata was a little apprehensive, may be due to new ambience of sitting in a fighter cockpit, then he got used to it. It was not much different from flying with any other co-pilot,'' he said.

The 45-year-old Hattendrof said he was flying the F-16 for 21 years.

The aircraft, brought from Misawa base in Japan, belonged to the Pacific fleet. The Block-50 model Falcon went on a 40-minute flight.

Mr Tata, who came to Bangalore on his own business jet yesterday, underwent a medical exam both by his surgeons and LM medical experts, before taking the flight.

UNI