CHENNAI: Even in his wildest flights of imagination, Wing Commander S Sajan had never seen his career in the Indian Air force bestowing such a privilege on him - commanding a plane with the First Woman to fly a fighter aircraft. While he agrees that flying the President of India would perhaps not figure on his career graph, it is an honour, he says even as he turns nostalgic about his days in Chennai.
“I owe it to my NCC training during my college days in Loyola in Chennai where I got fascinated about joining the armed forces,” he told Express. Sajan came to Chennai in 1984 and completed his secondary education at Doveton Corrie Anglo Indian School. He graduated from Loyola College in Mathematics. “While in college he was a cadet in the Air Wing of NCC and was selected for undergoing gliding training at the Air Force Station, Tambaram, he further got his private pilots licence (PPL) at the Madras Flying Club. Later, he was commissioned into the fighter stream of the Air Force in 1992,” Sajan’s older brother Capt Sabu told Express. Capt Sabu is a pilot with Air India and the regional secretary of their pilot’s union body.
Though both the brothers had similar aspirations of joining the Air Force someday, Capt Sabu didn’t get that lucky. “I was perhaps meant for fighting with the Air India management,” he joked. Though not from a family of pilots, the two brothers were drawn to the career from their days of gliding during their course of study at the Loyola college.
But the next generation sure looks like will be a family of pilots with Sajan’s wife Sujata also being a former helicopter pilot with the IAF. “She had joined the Air Force three years after I did. I think she was inspired by me and she also wanted to keep tabs on me which drove her to joining there,” Sajan said. Did flying the President come with a lot of pressure on the mind? “Not at all,” Sajan said. “In fact, the President was very cool and confident. Being a fighter pilot is sure a tough job but one needs to have a ‘situational awareness’ trait in them apart from quick thinking. I think I owe a lot to my alma matter in Chennai,” he said.
Sajan was awarded the Sword of Honour for being adjudged first in order of merit, the President’s Plaque for the ‘Best All Rounder’ and the Chief of Air Staff trophy for ‘Best in Flying’. Initially he was flying the MIG 21s.