Supersonic in the Gripen

Just took a one-hour sortie in the rear-seat of a JAS-39 Gripen-D. Went supersonic for the first time (1.2 Mach). Here is a quick photo of me just before the flight. This is me in kit with Jakob, Saab’s kit-up man. Has been my most fulfilling flight to date with respect to the amount of flying that I was allowed to do during the sortie, including a landing. We had a chase-plane (a Saab 105 trainer) filming my sortie, so lots of photos and a detailed post on the sortie shortly. Will be visiting the Gripen final integration facility here in Linkoping tomorrow, and will be getting an official brief on various aspects of the programme. Stay tuned.

18 thoughts on “Supersonic in the Gripen”

  1. Good..happy and proud……good you clarified rear seat otherwise people would've thought that you actually flew it yourself:)

  2. [email protected]: Didn't go supersonic in the three previous fighter sorties that I've logged (went transonic in all three though). In two, there were airspace restrictions, and in the third, the pilots flying at the show were asked not to break the sound barrier.

  3. Shiv- i should say that you are one lucky guy on earth.. anyways we would like to do a detailed research on Raffale aswell because i strongly belive thts going to qin MMRCA.

  4. Shiv, You lucky man…
    Anyway I don't see any hope for Grippen in the ongoing Farce called MRCA. Sweeden is too insignificant a country in terms of geopolitics and the plane falls in the similar class as LCA.

    Overall it's a nice mean machine but for the Engines and Radar too are khanate property.

    Can I exchange my Suits for the G suit with you. I am jealous

  5. You Lucky dog, really……………………………………………………..do you need an 'assistant' ??

  6. hi shiv , welcome to sweden. i am deb from orissa , i am doing master program in logistic and scm. i am just 120 km from Linköping centrum.

  7. Congratulations for your 1st supersonic sortie! Feel good to see Bharatiya defense journos revving up their act.

    First Vishnu and now you both being courted by the Aerospace majors is good. It would be great if you guys can promote awareness about defense services and importance of high-technology in the 21st century among Bharat's young minds.

  8. few comments above gives glimpse of Indian mentality. We are jealous of someones success/fortune. No wonder Mughals/British ruled us for 1000 year. Shiv is reaping fruit of his passion. Good luck, keep posting good stuff.

  9. Anonynous @8:24PM
    ..nobody is "jealous" jealous here. Its all in the good spirit. Probably you fail to gauge the level of comraderie in these circles.
    Yeah… so please do no generalise Indian mentality. Shiv is every way an Indian himself. And yourself sir? (Baki/Chipanda)

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