President Pratibha Patil today entered the record books by becoming the first woman head of state to fly in a frontline, multi-role fighter jet aircraft as she undertook a 30-minute sortie in a Russian made Sukhoi-30 MKI.
Flashing a victory sign after landing at the Lohegoan air force base here, the 74-year old President shook hands with the pilot Wing Commander S Sajan of the two-seater Sukhoi and patted him for a smooth sortie in the combat jet plane.
Patil, who has also become the oldest woman to fly in a warplane, posed for photographs on the tarmac with the pilot, who has over 3,200 hours of flying experience, top officers and the aircraft maintenance staff.
Shortly after landing, the President was driven to a rest house where she underwent a medical check up.
Before taking off, Patil was briefed about emergency exit procedures and various parameters of the flight in the Sukhoi-30 aircraft of city-based 30 squadron, the 'Rhinos'.
Patil is the second President to fly in a fighter aircraft after A P J Abdul Kalam who was flown at speeds a few notches below supersonic levels for 30 minutes without sharp manoeuvres also from the Lohegaon airbase.
Patil, who was seated in the co-pilot's seat in the aircraft, had donned a 'G-suit' worn by fighter pilots to counter the gravitational effects due to high speed manoeuvres.
A Sukhoi, India's most advanced fighter plane, can carry eight tonnes of armaments and fly over 3,000 km with onboard fuel and can undertake an extended journey of upto 5,000 km with a single air-to-air refuelling.
The jet flew at a speed of about 0.9 Mach which is few notches below the supersonic levels starting at one Mach, which is about 1,236 km per hour. Kalam was flown in a Sukhoi in 2006.
The pre-flight medical test had given the President a green signal for undertaking the journey.
