IAF Planes Perform Emergency Landing Drill On Lucknow-Agra Expressway

As part of an emergency landing drill, sixteen aircraft of the Indian Air Force on Tuesday took part in a touch-and-go exercise at an airstrip on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway.

IAF’s C-130 ‘Super Hercules’, a Rs 900-crore transport carrier, was the first to arrive on the expressway. With the aircraft still in motion, Garud commandos disembarked from the C-130 to secure the landing strip. The crew later deployed a ramp to roll-out a camouflaged Gypsy.

The IAF’s Jaguars, Mirages, Sukhoi 230s were also part of the exercise but did not land on the airstrip.

The drill is held to prepare for emergencies, during which the aircrafts can disburse relief material and help in civilian evacuations.

The Expressway is closed for commuters until 2 pm today. In order to ensure smooth conduct of the drill, authorities imposed traffic restrictions on the Expressway for the general public on Monday and Tuesday.

        I   AF’s Sukhoi planes making flyby manoeuver in the sky during the grand opening of Agra-Lucknow expressway in 2016 (PTI Photo/File)

The IAF had conducted a similar exercise in 2016 to mark the opening of the Expressway. The 302-kilometre, six-lane, expressway — India’s longest — was inaugurated by the then Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and his father Mulayam Singh Yadav. The Expressway, Akhilesh’s pet project, had taken a record two years to build.

 Courtesy : indianexpress