Freedom flight takes off from Bangalore

BANGALORE, Nov 8: Karnataka Governor Khurshed Alam Khan flagged off the Kanyakumari to Kashmir Freedom Flight,’ organised by the Aeronautical Society of India (AeSI) and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), on Friday.In his address, the governor said that the aerospace community must continue to stress on indigenisation.

Flying at about 60 miles an hour, the Freedom Flight will take about 60 hours to complete its 3,600 kilometre flight path. Covering various destinations like Coimbatore, Bhopal, Jaipur, Delhi and Srinagar, it is expected to return on November 19. The plane will face its most difficult challenge at the Banihal pass, at the entrance to the Kashmir valley, where it will have to fly at over 9000 feet, pushing its altitude capability.

Air Vice Marshal (retd) A S Lamba and Centre for Airborne Systems (CABS) scientist S Ramanathan were at the controls of the Pushpak VT-DWA, owned by the Indian Institute of Science and maintained by CABS.

HAL chairman C G Krishnadas Nair, in his address, said that a HAL team would visit all the flying clubs in the country, inspect the Pushpak aircraft being flown there and help the clubs.