Touching The Sky !

Take off path clear
Release brakes & open full throttle
RPM 2500
80 km/hr - nose wheel up
90 km/hr - unstuck
Climb at 105 km/hr
…..and for the first time in my life I had broken that connection with land…I was up & above the whole world…in a whole new dimension……I was FLYING…..
Since the day one at the AFTT (Air Force Training Team of the NDA) I had been preparing for my first sortie, the day I would fly for the first time in my life. I was dearly looking forward for that day. But the monsoons had delayed our flying for long. We were eagerly waiting for the skies to clear up. Each day we would arrive early morning at the AFTT anticipating a clear sky but to our despair.
So we spent all the time memorizing the umpteen checks that have to be carried out before, after and during the flight.
Soon the Gods heard our prayers and the skies cleared up.
Out of the 50 odd batch mates that we were, my turn was somewhere around the 45 mark. So by the time it was my turn, my excitement was boosted up by all those who had flown by then.
I kept gazing at the never ending blue while my course mates played around in the air with their crafts. I kept praying (a thing which I had not done for quite some time, but maybe I felt I would be getting closer to him than ever before) for clear skies when my turn would come.
It was a fine Monday morning. We reached the AFTT by around 6.15 am. By then all the "6 beauties" were lined up in the dispersal area ready to take you for a ride high up among the clouds. We checked the flight schedule and lo!, mine was the second sortie of the day.
I started memorizing all checks again and again. It is said that a good pilot should have all the checks at his fingertips. I was confident about my checks but then..i don’t know why?...maybe it was the anxiety working up in my mind. A mixed feeling of excitement & fear with a dash of thrill was brewing in my mind when I saw my aircraft come back after the first sortie.
7.30am : it was time for me to take on the skies. I went and strapped up in the cockpit. Within 5 minutes my instructor(Sqn Ldr NKBala) came and strapped up besides me. I started off with the checks. I did all my checks with perfection or so I thought. I missed a thing or two here and there. I was nervous (it had never happened before but I was nervous..maybe it was ok to be nervous when its your first flight…)
Within 10 minutes I was taxying her (we always address the aircraft as "her") out of the dispersal area to the far end of the runway. Once we were lined up for take off SqnLdr Bala told me "now you just sit back and enjoy the flight"
He released the brakes and opened full throttle. She rushed ahead with full power. At 80km/hr he lifted her nose wheel up. At 90km/hr he unsticked and she took off into air…once airborne she climbed steadily at 105 km/hr till an altitude of 3500 ft…then we leveled out and maintained the same altitude.
From then on SqnLdr Bala gave me a running commentary of all the features that we were seeing. Everything looked so tiny from up there. Even the enormous Sudan block seemed like a small box with a dome on top. Then he explained to me the functions and uses of all controls and instruments that occupied more than half the space in that small cockpit.
There was a beautiful cloud formation right above us. Sqn Ldr Bala took her right through the cloud through a hole in it. Above it was heaven or so I felt. I could see tiny whiffs of clouds flying beneath me. They seemed so soft & delicate. Water droplets were striking against the face of the cockpit and flowing in streaks to the rear. But the best was yet to come. There was a rainbow about 500m ahead. My instructor said. "Ok, now you have the controls…do whatever you want but take me to the pot of gold beneath the rainbow"
It took me quite some time to get used to the controls. But once I got the hang of it, I was on top of the world…I could now say that I was really FLYING…
Now it was time to land. We headed back to the runway. As we were nearing it SqnLdr bala told me "hang on" and opened the air brakes. She went into a nose wheel dive. It was like going down a vertical fall in a roller coaster ride. He then aligned her for landing. Landing is the toughest part of any flight. The runway grew broader and broader as we approached it and finally we touched down.
After taxying her back to the runway SqnLdr Bala left instructing me to carry out the post flight checks by myself.
I sat there in the cockpit for another 3-4 minutes just relishing my reverie which had come true.
I HAD TOUCHED THE SKY !!