By Fakir Balaji
Bengaluru, Feb 22 (IANS): The biennial Aero India 2015 show turned into a carnival Saturday, as over 60,000 people flocked to the Yelahanka base of the Indian Air Force (IAF) here to witness spectacular aerobatics and thrilling aerial feats by fighters, helicopters, stunt aircraft, transport planes and even unmanned aerial vehicles.
"As the five-day event opened to the public on weekend, the venue is jam-packed, as thousands of people, especially children and women descended for flying display and the aerospace expo," Defence Exhibition Organisation director M.D. Singh told IANS at the trade fair on the city's outskirts.
Though the hosts made separate arrangements for the public to view the four-hour air show and see aircraft on static display, they could not cope with the heavy rush in the 10 pavilions where about 700 overseas and domestic aerospace firms are showcasing their technologies and products.
"We have segregated the public coming for flying and static display from those visiting the expo for meetings and business to avoid over-crowding and regulate the visitors' movement," Singh asserted.
With the venue located in the city's northern suburb on the busy national highway and across the Kempegowda international airport at Devanahalli, access roads were choc-a-bloc with thousands of vehicles on both sides, forming a gridlock for hours and giving a harrowing time to hundreds of traffic constables.
Multiple security checks and frisking at three levels tested the patience of many visitors, leading to heated exchanges, frowns and scorn as people visiting the expo in colourful attire had to wait at least an hour in serpentine queues to enter the air base and pass through security gates to reach pavilions or tarmac across the runway for the aerial show.
As the flying display began, with the indigenous Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Dhruv first taking to the sky for a solo flight, followed by vintage aircraft like the Tiger Moth and Scandinavian Wasp (a small stunt plane), spectators forgot their entry woes and enjoyed the awesome speed and deafening sound of a F-16 fighter doing basic manoeuvres, including a double barrel loop, vertical turns, rolls, flying upside down and in angular combat mode.
"It is exciting to see these metal birds do so many daring feats at high speeds and in low altitude at a great risk to their life for our sake. This is the second time I am at the air show for the sheer fun of watching fighters and other aircraft fly and do acts of daredevilry," N. Uday Kumar, an engineering student, told IANS on the occasion.
The state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) demonstrated the air prowess of its Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas and Light Combat Helicopter (LCH), while the IAF flaunted its Sukhoi fighter and Sarang aerobatics team using Dhruv choppers.
The showstopper, however, was the Rafale, the medium multi-role combat aircraft of French aerospace major Dassault Aviation, which the IAF has shortlisted for induction into its frontline fleet in place of the ageing Soviet-era MiG-21s and MiG-27s.
Flown by Captain Planche of the French Air Force, the twin-engine, deltawing fighter can be equipped with a range of weapons, including bombers and missiles to under-take interdiction, aerial reconnaissance and nuclear strike missions.
"It is wonderful to watch so many military aircraft fly twice in a day at one place and win hearts of thousands of people with aerial feats, including aerobatics. It is inspiring and very educative as we don't get to see them often," Rupali Patil, a company executive from Mumbai, told IANS during the intermission.
Boeing's C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft, Brazilian Embraer aircraft for Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C), Swiss-made Pilatus, single engine turboprop trainer aircraft, which the IAF is acquiring to train its rookie pilots and stunt planes from Russia, Britain and the US were the start attraction.