Coffee machines and bunk beds in IAF's C-130J Super Hercules cockpits
A microwave oven, a coffee dispenser and bunks to catch up on sleep - cockpits were never so comfortable for Indian Air Force (IAF) transport pilots.
There was no room for crew comfort in the cramped cockpits of Russian aircraft, which have been the mainstay of the IAF's transport fleet for over four decades.
But with the induction of five new American C-130J Super Hercules, the old order seems to be changing. The Veiled Vipers - as the No. 77 Squadron which flies the C- 130Js is known - saw action for the first time after coming into existence in this year when it was asked to send a planeload of relief material for victims of the earthquake in Sikkim this month.
The first aircraft was airborne by midnight, reaching Bagdogra in two-and-a half hours with the first batch of specialised forces, including sniffer dogs that are saviours in quake-hit regions, locating casualties under the rubble.
"Any other aircraft wouldn't have been ready to take off so quickly as it takes time to prepare a plane for a transport flight," Group Captain Tejbir Singh, who commands the squadron, said.
Tejbir has flown Russian An-32s and IL-76 transport aircraft all through his professional career before he was handpicked for IAF's first Special Forces squadron.
Read more at: Coffee machines and bunk beds in IAF's C-130J Super Hercules cockpits : North: News India Today
A microwave oven, a coffee dispenser and bunks to catch up on sleep - cockpits were never so comfortable for Indian Air Force (IAF) transport pilots.
There was no room for crew comfort in the cramped cockpits of Russian aircraft, which have been the mainstay of the IAF's transport fleet for over four decades.
But with the induction of five new American C-130J Super Hercules, the old order seems to be changing. The Veiled Vipers - as the No. 77 Squadron which flies the C- 130Js is known - saw action for the first time after coming into existence in this year when it was asked to send a planeload of relief material for victims of the earthquake in Sikkim this month.
The first aircraft was airborne by midnight, reaching Bagdogra in two-and-a half hours with the first batch of specialised forces, including sniffer dogs that are saviours in quake-hit regions, locating casualties under the rubble.
"Any other aircraft wouldn't have been ready to take off so quickly as it takes time to prepare a plane for a transport flight," Group Captain Tejbir Singh, who commands the squadron, said.
Tejbir has flown Russian An-32s and IL-76 transport aircraft all through his professional career before he was handpicked for IAF's first Special Forces squadron.
Read more at: Coffee machines and bunk beds in IAF's C-130J Super Hercules cockpits : North: News India Today
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