Karnataka - Bangalore   

HAL flies high for its founder

— Photo: K. Gopinathan

Breathtaking: Aerobatics by the Suryakiran team at the HAL airport in Bangalore to mark HAL Day on Tuesday.

Bangalore: For the employees of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and their families, it was a special Tuesday morning, as in its 68th year, the aviation giant celebrated the first ever HAL Day by commemorating its founder Walchand Hirachand and displaying some of its finest aircraft at an airshow.

More than 15,000 people were on the premises of the old airport and as they donned HAL caps, the first to zip across the sky were the Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH) operated by Sarang aerobatic team. After Sarang’s double arrow formations and different patterns of synchro-crossing, the Intermediate Jet Trainers (IJT) were in the sky.

As the name suggests, these aircraft are used to provide the trainee pilots with the experience of flying a jet in various mission roles.

Following the IJTs was the Hawk Mark 132 or Advanced Jet Trainer (AJT), the latest out of the licence product range of HAL, handed over to the Indian Air Force in August.

The famous “Tejas” of the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) family, the lightest fighter aircraft in the world came in next.

The show was wrapped up with team Suryakiran, another aerobatic team that has gained popularity in various airshows, especially Aero India. With its barrel loops and phoenix formations, the team ended with its signature heart-shaped trail of smoke as audiences sighed away.

Addressing presspersons towards the end of the programme, HAL Chairperson Ashok K. Baweja said that the recession had not affected HAL and it had orders worth Rs. 57,000 crore from within the country.

India had signed a General Agreement Contract with Russia for building fifth generation aircraft. “Seven other design projects of HAL are in different stages of production now,” he added.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Permission sought to hold Christmas prayers
Withdraw order on merger of departments: Deve Gowda
Fight terrorism, communalism as twin challenges, says Karat
60 mechanics felicitated
Plea for memorial to Nanje Gowda
Poll panel declares all booths sensitive
Congress, JD(S) have come to a tacit understanding: BJP
Legal literacy bus to be flagged off soon
Status quo on demolition of buildings in Kanakapura
HAL flies high for its founder
Railways gains from slowdown
Passports despatched
Weekly trains to Nagercoil
Results
Campaign remains low-key, but ‘true expenditure shoots up’
Tourism policy may be revised
DSS demands Sriramulu’s resignation
Need stressed for speedy disposal of terror-related cases
Course
Sania prepared for new season
Jnanakshi team wins quiz contest School Notes
State Consumer Council in hibernation
You can question your doctor about the medicines
Where rights are watered down
‘We have been able to execute most of the orders’
Another security guard murdered
Helping the hearing impaired find their life partners
Sahitya Akademi award for Srinivas Vaidya
12,000 children administered polio vaccine
‘My mother prevented me from being a vegetable’
Insurance employees stage protest
Bangalore today

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu