My First Flight

When I was a child I get very excited whenever I see an aircraft fly in the sky. 

High above it flew leaving behind a contrail ........I would wondered where it was heading.

Even today I get excited seeing an aircraft fly but not as the same excitement as my childhood.

May be age has taken away the excitement..................

I am sure even today every child is excited to see an aircraft fly high above in the sky.

Like every child I would wondered how it flies and used to say to my little friends that I wished I could fly in an aircraft one day.

But I couldn't get the opportunity to fly in my dream aircraft.

I grew up to become an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer (AME)..............still always wanted to fly in an aircraft .......... but still didn't manage to fly in one.

Then I got a job in Bangalore in Safran Engineering Services India (formerly known as Safran Aerospace India).

After serving the company for almost five years I got an opportunity to go to France for project co-ordination.

Then on 8th May 2011 for the first time I boarded an Ethihad airways A320-200 (flight EY 287) from Bangalore to Abu Dhabi fulfilling one of my little childhood dreams.  

I boarded Ethihad A330-200 (flight EY-37) from Abu Dhabi to Paris CDG.

I was then 26 yrs old when I boarded an aircraft for the first time. 

It is always sweet to fulfill your childhood dream.

Some may say why wait for so long . . . . .. .... but I would say everything has its own purpose

Some may say it's funny.........and I would say yes and this is the fact !!!

Cri-Cri (The world's Smallest Twin Engine Aircraft)

Cri-Cri is the world's smallest twin engine aircraft built by a French engineer Michel Colomban. It is an ultralight aircraft. Michel gave the name Cri-Cri after his daughter who was often called Cri-Cri.


Michel started to build the Cri-Cri in 1971. It took Michel two years (1500 working hours) to built the first Cri-Cri. 


Cri-Cri first maiden flight test was performed on 19th July 1973 by test pilot Robert Buisson at Guiyancourt Airport near Paris.


After some pre-flight landing gear tests, Michel with Robert decided to change CriCri's two-wheeled gear to more safe three-wheeled gear.


Currently there are approx. 150 Cri-Cries around the world mainly in France and United States.


Electric version of Cri-Cri performed the flying display in Le Bourget Paris Air Show 2011.

How Boeing B787 got its name "Dreamliner"

"Dreamliner" came to being almost called the "Global Cruiser". When many people at Boeing suggested the name Global Cruiser. But instead Boeing decided to go an online contest. If that contest had been held exclusively in the United States, Global Cruiser would have won. 

Instead, the naming contest for the 787 was held online with people from more than 160 countries casting their votes. The four choices were:

• Dreamliner
• Global Cruiser
• Stratoclimber
• eLiner

After almost 500,000 votes were cast, the Dreamliner won by a margin of only 2500. While the Global Cruiser turned out to be the name preferred by U.S. residents, the Dreamliner was by far the favorite among the rest of the world in this name game.

India’s MMRCA Fighter Competition

It's finally Rafale vs. Eurofighter Typhoon for India's MMRCA (Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft) military fighter aircraft purchase. India recently eliminated F-16 and F/A-18 E/F. 

                                                              Rafale

                                               Eurofighter Typhoon

Some of the weaknesses of the F/A-18 (Super Hornet) platform:

• Deep distrust of America’s reliability as an arms supplier 
• Technology transfer concerns 
• The aircraft’s expense. Given the costs to other customers so far, it seems unlikely that Boeing can deliver 126 fully-equipped F/A-18 E/F Block II aircraft for just $10.2 billion, let alone aircraft plus lifetime support. 
• The Super Hornet also offers poorer aerodynamic performance than the Eurofighter or Rafale, due to inherent airframe limitations. 
• Finally, it’s a new aircraft type for the IAF, so the entire support infrastructure would have to be developed from the ground up. 

Some of the weaknesses of the F-16 (Fighting Falcon):

• Weaknesses include the fact that Pakistan also flies F-16s; 
• The fact it’s a new aircraft type, so the entire support infrastructure would have to be developed; 
• Lockheed Martin’s difficulty in complying with industrial offset provisions, given their lack of penetration in India.

In 2006 Request For Proposals(RFP) were issued to:

• France’s Dassault (Mirage 2000-5 and Rafale), 
• BAE/Saab (JAS-39 Gripen), 
• EADS/BAE (Eurofighter Typhoon), 
• The American firms Lockheed (F-16 Block 70),  
• Boeing (F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet) and 
• Russia’s Rosonboronexport (MiG-29OVT with thrust vectoring, aka. MiG-35).