Rahul Gandhi shares video, talks about passion for flying he shared with his dad
Rahul Gandhi remembered how he would fly with his father on early morning flights. He spoke about his uncle Sanjay Gandhi’s plane crash. Rahul Gandhi added Rajiv Gandhi had warned his younger brother against flying the plane that crashed and killed Sanjay Gandhi in New Delhi in June 1980
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday posted a video on YouTube titled “Joy of Flight” about his passion for flying planes he shared with his father, late former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. He recalled how his mother, Sonia Gandhi, would be worried every time his father flew a plane. “...she would be worried, and she would be transferring that worry,” he said in the over five-minute video shot at the Rajiv Gandhi Photo Exhibition the Indian Youth Congress organised last month.
Rahul Gandhi remembered how he would fly with his father on early morning flights. He spoke about his uncle Sanjay Gandhi’s plane crash. Rahul Gandhi added Rajiv Gandhi had warned his younger brother against flying the plane that crashed and killed Sanjay Gandhi in New Delhi in June 1980.
“My uncle was flying a particular type of plane; it was a Pitts. It was a very aggressive plane. My father told him that you know, do not do this. My uncle really did not have the experience. My uncle had similar (flying) hours to what I have about 300-350 hours. And, he should not have been flying that plane. And he flew it. And that is what happens when you do not have the experience and you fly. It is easy to kill yourself.”
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Rahul Gandhi also spoke about how training as a pilot helps one become a leader. “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 two spaces very seamlessly and very quickly.” He added roads, railway lines do not block their imagination when pilots fly. Rahul Gandhi said their imagination is at 30,000 feet and that gives them the 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...”
Rahul Gandhi said his father would put him in the cockpit whenever they flew on a plane or helicopter together. “What he would do is he would ask me about all the instruments, ask me questions and we would do the flight check together,” he said. He added he later learnt to fly when he was in college.