Co-pilot Tata actually flew F-16

BANGALORE: He's still on a euphoric high after the overseas acquisition but check out Thursday's high for Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata ���- veering into aerospace at the rate of 50,000 ft/min!
At the stroke of 1.30 pm, a deafening roar rent the hangar even as a slew of shutterbugs and media personnel waited for something, anything, even a gesture from the jet-setting business baron who happens to hold a pilot's licence.On day 2 of Aero India 2007, Ratan Tata, 69, undertook a 40-minute sortie on the F-16, as co-pilot.
The American jet, when it took off, was piloted by Paul Hattendorf, a test pilot with US defence major Lockheed Martin. Forty-five-year-old Hattendorf, who has taken part in US operations in Iraq, said Tata flew the F-16 during most of the sortie. "He was a little apprehensive initially. (You get a) tremendous field of view when you are up in a F-16 cockpit but he got accustomed very quickly."
Flying the F-16, by consensus of the best in the trade, requires exacting standards of physical and mental prowess. While Tata was air-diving across Bangalore's skies, Joe Trout, director, communications, Lockheed, explained to reporters on the ground, "Prior to the flight Ratan Tata was subjected to a medical test and was found fit.
"It was a great ride... given a chance I would love to fly again," he said after the 40-minute sortie.