As the mega aviation exhibition Aero India Show 2019 began on Wednesday in Bengaluru, three Indian Air Force aircraft with a Su-30MKi in lead as the leader flew in the missing man formation at the Yelanhanka Air Force Station as a tribute to Wing Commander Sahil Gandhi who lost his life on Tuesday in a mid-air collision during rehearsal in a Surya Kiran Aerobatics Team's aircraft.
The Hawk jets were performing a manoeuvre in which one aircraft was flying inverted, carrying a pilot, and the other below it with two pilots, moments before they hit each other and spun out of control, according to police and eyewitnesses. Among the three aircrews of the aircraft, Wing Commander VT Shelke and Squadron Leader TJ Singh ejected but Gandhi sustained fatal injuries.
The missing man formation is an aerial salute performed as part of a flypast of aircraft at a funeral or a memorial event, typically in memory of a fallen pilot, or a well-known military service member or veteran. A custom observed in the air force of various countries, the flypast in this formation has one aircraft position which is left vacant or a gap between two aircraft in the formation to depict the 'Missing Man'.
Source : First Post
Comentarios