Declaring a 50-year-old dream had been fulfilled, President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Thursday became the first supreme commander of India’s armed forces - and the country’s oldest citizen - to fly in an Indian Air Force (IAF) Sukhoi SU-30 MKI, with the combat jet going supersonic during the half-hour sortie.

‘It was a long-cherished dream fulfilled and I felt on top of the world’, a beaming and emotional Kalam, clad in blue pressure suit, told reporters on touching down at the IAF’s Lohegaon airbase here.

The IAF had in 1958 rejected Kalam’s application to become a pilot. He went on to become India’s ‘missile man’, scientific advisor to the defence minister and finally the president.

During the flight, the aircraft had flown between 15,000 and 25,000 feet and broke the sound barrier at speeds of Mach 1.25.

‘The SU-30 is a great fighter. With it, India is in safe hands’, said the 74-year-old Kalam, who had a month ago conveyed his desire to the IAF to fly the SU-30 MKI.

Full Story