Freedom Flight 1997

The Aeronautical Society of India (AeSI) organized a 14-day `freedom flight' across the length of the country as part of the celebration of the 50 years of Indian Independence. The flight was flagged off from Bangalore on November 7, 1997. Pushpak, a light two-seat aircraft developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, was flown by a two-member team comprising Air Vice Marshal A S Lamba of Indian Avitronics and A. Ramanathan of Centre for Air Borne Surveillance (CABS). The aircraft returned to Bangalore on November 19, 1997 The route of the flight was Bangalore, Coimbatore, Trivandrum, Kanyakumari, Cochin, Coimbatore, Bangalore, Bellary, Hyderabad, Nanded, Akola, Bhopal, Kota, Jaipur, Delhi (Safdarjung), Chandigarh, Pathankot, Udhampur, Srinagar, and Jammu.