BENGALURU: What’s the right age to start flying an aircraft and when should one stop flying? If you ask 81-year-old Air Vice Marshal Ajit Lamba (Retd), his reply will be: You start flying as early as you can (if not when you are born) and you stop flying the day you die.
He is the oldest pilot to fly in the history of Aero India, but he calls himself the youngest aviator. Lamba will display his skills at Yelahanka Air Force Station on Wednesday. He will be given two slots of six minutes to showcase his skills with Hansa-3, which he will fly from the hangars of National Aerospace Laboratories.
“I had skipped two editions of Aero India as Hansa-3 was grounded for a few reasons. NAL approached me to fly it and I accepted it the very moment. I will fly Hansa-3, which is non-aerobatic. I am excited to perform for the Bengaluru crowd,” Lamba told Express.
An ace pilot with decades of experience, Lamba has served the Indian Air Force for 36 years. He retired in 1991 but continued to fly planes when he is not playing golf. “I fly planes frequently as it is my passion and hobby too,” he said. His last posting was at Bengaluru-based Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment (ASTE), an institution training test pilots and flight test engineers. He has been living in Bengaluru for the past 25 years.
The veteran pilot has an enormous amount of experience having flown at least 100 types of planes and logging close to 7,500 hours in his 60-year career.