New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi released a youtube video about his father and their common passion for aircraft on flying. In this video titled 'Joy of Flight' taken at IYC Photo Exhibition in Delhi on Shri Rajiv Gandhi, Rahul talks in length about how Rajiv Gandhi and he as a child used to fly together in the cockpit. He also explains how a pilot's training is extremely used to be a leader.
Excerpts from the video.
Pointing a flight, Rahul said that it was DC 3, a favourite of Rajiv Gandhi and his favourite too. That's the most beautiful plane and it’s the first commercial plane my flew. "In fact, I've sat with him in that plane. When he used to fly that’s a King Air", he said pointing to a picture in the video.
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"I don't remember this exact one, but generally whenever I was in a plane or helicopter with my dad, I was put into the cockpit. What he’d do is he’d ask me about all the instruments, ask me questions and we’d do the flight check together. So we would walk around the plane and he’d ask me -what’s that?", he recalled.
And then later, when he was in college he learnt how to fly. "I remember we once went to Jaipur, Udaipur and then we went to Bombay and then we went to Srinagar as well. It was very exciting because these were all normally early morning flights," he said.
"Sometimes it would just be a surprise you know he'd come into my room. I remember once he came into my room at about 3.30 in the morning. He's like, “okay, get ready”. So I was like, “What is this, get ready?” So he didn't tell me why or anything like that. So I was like “okay” I had a little aluminium case, I packed it with shirts, pants and shoes and then I remember walking out in the dark and going. So we were going on a flight and then I remember I sat in the jump seat, those days it was pre 911 so you could sit in the jump seat, and I remember sitting in the jump seat of a big plane for the first time. And him pointing out, different things. And then starting the engine which for us mechanical people is fantastic. I can still remember it. And there was a problem. There was some sort of a technical problem. It was an Avro, it had a technical problem. So it was delayed. So I spent quite a lot of time in the cockpit while my father was trying to fix the problem on the ground. And then I remember when we took off – wonderful!" Rahul Gandhi recalled in detail.
On his uncle's untimely death in a flight crash, Gandhi recalled his father's frequent warning about safety in flying. "Look if you’re a pilot. That's a risk you take. You take it. So, my father told my uncle. Because my uncle was flying a particular type of plane - it was a Pitts. It's a very aggressive plane. My father told him that you know, don't do this. My uncle really didn't have the experience. My uncle had similar hours to what I have about 300-350 hours. And, he shouldn’t have been flying that plane. And, he flew it. And that's what happens when you don't have the experience and you fly. It's easy to kill yourself," he mentions in the video.
His father's career as a pilot has caused lot of anxiety to his mother, Gandhi said. "Yeah, my mother was worried, so every time my father would go on a flight. You know it would be, my mother would have this record playing in the background that he's on a flight. It's so dangerous and she’d be worried and she’d be transferring that worry. Then once there was some problem with Kashmir and then there was some issue with his aircraft. So my mother I remember getting very worked up."
Rahul Gandhi also explains in detail how the pilot training helped his father to be a great leader and how it hones the leadership skills. "Pilots have a very particular ability that comes from their training and it is this idea, that you have to move, from a 30,000 foot vision to details in the cockpit. If you lose track of details in the cockpit, you run into trouble. And if you lose track of the 30,000 foot picture, you run into trouble. So a pilot, and I am one, we move from these 2 spaces very seamlessly and very quickly. Pilots also when they fly, their imagination isn't blocked by roads, by railway lines. Their imagination is at 30,000 feet, so they have this ability to see large systems. And this is what really helped my father. I could see this process taking place where he would go and meet people, get into their details, understand their details and then instantly move to 30,000, 40,000 50,000 feet and look at the big picture. His work was constantly moving between these two perspectives and always understanding that imagination can bridge anything so that to me was a very powerful thing that my father had", he narrated.
One of the big regrets of Rajiv Gandhi was that he left the airline and couldn't fly the bigger jets. "I think both of us would have actually loved to do that. Didn't really get the opportunity", he added.
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