Chandigarh, September 2: Indian Air Force(IAF) Chief Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa and Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman on Monday flew a sortie in a MiG-21 fighter aircraft from the Pathankot Airbase in Punjab. Expressing great happiness, Dhanoa said it was his pleasure to fly with the Wing Commander as he got his flying category back. "It was a pleasure for me to fly with Abhinandan as he has got his flying category back, that is what all pilots look forward to. I also ejected in 1988, it took me 9 months to get my category back. He has been back in less than 6 months", Dhanoa said.

The IAF Chief highlighted two common things between him and the Wing Commander- both having fought Pakistanis- Dhanao in Kargil and Varthaman in Balakot. "Both of us have 2 things in common - 1st, both of us ejected and 2nd, both of us have fought Pakistanis. I fought in Kargil, he fought after Balakot. 3rd, I've flown with his father. It's an honour for me to do my last sortie in IAF, in a fighter aircraft, with his son", Dhanoa added.

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The duo flew a sortie at Air Force Station Pathankot today in a MiG-21 trainer. It's the last sortie flown by IAF Chief in a fighter aircraft before its retirement. Reports inform that they took off around 11:30 hrs for a 30 minutes sortie. Abhinandan had been grounded due to ejection from his MiG-21 which had been shot down in aerial conflict with Pakistan Air Force F-16s.

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Varthaman who shot down a Pakistani F-16 fighter jet post-Balakot operations, has resumed flying operations in August after medical clearance. During Pakistani counter-attack on India on February 27 in response to Balakot airstrikes, Abhinandan had flown a MiG 21 Bison fighter into Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 02, 2019 02:24 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).