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Next: Surya Kiran team hops into UK Hawk

Prashanth G N TNN

4.17 pm.It was the last flight of the breathtaking Surya Kiran aerobatics team of the IAF on their HAL HJT-16 Kiran Mk.2 aircraft.The team will begin flying the British Hawk from the next aero show. The final moment came at 4.17 pm,when the aircraft took off in threes -- one after the other.It was yet again a fabulous display of flying skills,covering 13 minutes,by the now famed nine-pilot team. It was a nostalgic moment for the pilots as they were aware they were making their last flight on the HJT,which will be retired from aerobatics,15 years after it flew in the first Aero India in 1996.After 17 years,the Surya Kiran pilots are expected to fly the Hawk in 2013. K Ramji Yadov,one of the Surya Kiran pilots,told TOI: 4.17 pm is a nostalgic moment.We have been flying the HJT for 15 years now and the time has come to move on.We will sure miss the aircraft.It was in the HJT that it all began. What is his attachment to the aircraft "It's sad,in a way,that you have to move on.We'll miss the aircraft,but I guess in our profession we should be ready to be in another set-up at a moment's notice.Change comes to all of us.'' The HAL HJTs will be moved into training for young pilots within the IAF,even though it's a 1960s aircraft. For another Surya Kiran pilot,4.17 pm on Sunday was an emotional moment."I feel sad that we have to move out of an aircraft we have kind of grown up with.But that's the way it is in the profession of pilots."What does he think the team can do with the Hawks "It'll be a new craft for us,the control,the feel and power will be different.We will be training on the Hawk for a couple of years,learning new manoeuvres while performing the existing ones.The execution of the manoeuvres may get sharper and better with the Hawk.We can do many different and new things too." The show was a heart-stopper.The vertical flights,loops,the incredible crosses,the arrow formation were executed to an audience gripped every second by the flights. But the show came to an end with the trademark Bomber manoeuvre -- wherein all the nine aircraft came together and at the last moment,each winged off into different directions.The Surya Kiran team caught the imagination of Aero India 2011 like no one else did.The only other aircraft with claim to the top spot was the Su-30 with its jaw-dropping 360-degree turn in mid-air.Get set go for Feb 2013!

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SOARING IN THE SKY

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5/28/2012 2:18 AM