BENGALURU: Every time he kissed the skies in a made-in-India 'Tejas' at Aero India or elsewhere, Group Captain Suneet Krishna (Retd) had air warriors and aviation enthusiasts alike rooting for more of his heart-stopping manoeuvers.
That was till January 31. On February 1, this top gun walked away to the corporate world at the end of a wrangle between the country's defence scientists and the Indian Air Force (IAF). At one point, it reached the office of defence minister Manohar Parrikar, and the minister reportedly advised the top brass of DRDO and IAF to put an end to their disagreement.
The row was over denying this ace test pilot, the captain’s seat (pilot-in-command) in the 'Eye-in-the-sky', the Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C) aircraft developed by Centre for Airborne Systems (CABS), Bengaluru, and undergoing evaluation now ahead of its induction by the IAF later this year.
The reason? Group Captain Suneet Krishna (Retd) was considered a 'civilian test pilot' by the air strike wing because he opted for voluntary retirement from IAF in 2012, and therefore could not occupy the captain's seat.
"He was torpedoed by the air force though he holds the record of flying all types of fighters, and even some transport jets, for close to 5,000 hours. If Brazilian pilots could occupy the captain's seat when the Embraer-145 aircraft was bought for AEW&C project, how can the IAF prevent its former pilot from doing so? His exit will be a great loss for both 'Tejas' and AEW&C projects because no-one can match his expertise," remarked his former commandant who also played a key role in these projects.
The fact that he had served the IAF for more than two decades did not seem to count. Nor did the top brass of IAF, factor in his contribution to making ‘Tejas’ a completely pilot-friendly and world-class fighter jet because he logged the highest number of hours onboard the indigenous aircraft and his inputs helped modify the cockpit over the years. In fact, he has flown the prototypes, the production and operational versions of ‘Tejas’, even test-fired missiles and laser-guided bombs.
He was the pilot who demonstrated the military jet’s agility to Mr Parrikar in Bengaluru on January 17, 2015, the day when ‘Tejas’ was inducted into the IAF’s fleet. In fact, this ace test pilot encountered turbulence the moment he joined CABS in May 2015 with those at the helm at IAF's Aircraft & Systems Testing Establishment (ASTE), Bengaluru, insisting that only their officers could occupy the captain’s seat, although they were junior to Group Captain Suneet Krishna (retired). He flew 100 sorties as the tussle escalated. In the end though, with no solution in sight, he decided to join the corporate world and relocate to Mumbai.
