Bengaluru: Three Rafales have landed at Air Force Station Yelahanka on Wednesday evening for the upcoming 12th edition of Aero India starting from February 20.
The first one touched down at 6:01pm followed by the other two signalling the beginning of the much-anticipated sky party at the Plane Carnival. Out of the three Rafales, two are trainers and one is a fighter.
Interestingly, the Rafales landed in Bengaluru at a time when the political dogfight over the selection of these planes have reached a crescendo.
The Comptroller and Auditor General too had submitted a report that looked into the purchase of Rafales in Parliament on Wednesday.
The arrival of Rafales created great enthusiasm among plane devotes of Bengaluru and media, who had thronged outside AFS Yelahanka in the evening.
The practise flying sorties for the show will begin Thursday and the Rafales are expected to take part in it along with other flying machines.
The last port for the Rafales before reaching Bengaluru was Al Dhafra Air base in UAE. The Rafales were accompanied by a mother aircraft, a tanker, over the Benagluru skies.
The tanker is said to have parted its way to a nearby commercial airport after the Rafales landed at AFS Yelahanka.
Show officials confirmed that ahead of Rafales, the Indian Air Force (IAF) Mirage and Mig-21 Bison had touched down at the base. Team Yakovlevs, a top-notch close formation aerobatic display team from the UK, too have landed.
An Airbus A-400 M, a turboprop military transport aircraft also arrived on Wednesday.
IAF’s star aerial display teams the Sarangs and the Suryakirans (SKAT) are expected to join the party on Thursday.
The full dress rehearsal (FDR) for the show is on February 18 and 19. Around 5.5 lakh people are expected to visit the show from February 20 to 24.
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is checking the feasibility of flying all its helicopters during the formation flypast on the inaugural day.
Plane major Airbus is landing with A330 neo, its latest wide-body family member, that boasts of advanced materials, new optimized wings, composite sharklets and highly efficient engines that together deliver 25 per cent reduced fuel burn and CO2 emissions.
Airbus is also planning demonstration flights by its new generation tactical airlifter C295, that promises to perform multi-role operations under all weather conditions.
An Aero India App is now available for mobile downloads that will enable the visitors to buy tickets online in addition to providing show updates.
Aero India 2019 promises to be a show with many firsts and the organisers are ensuring that all shortfalls of 2017 edition is being looked into.
HAL is the primary organiser of Aero India 2019 along with IAF and Ministry of Defence.
