Fighter Pilots Flirted With Danger

Bombing of Thamil Selvam and strategic LTTE locations

It was a bright and yet another usual day for all except the two `top guns’ of the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF). Knowing that they were flying to bomb an important location, Group Captain Sajeewa Hendawitharane was air borne from Katunayake sharp at 5.30 am. Within 25 minutes they came closer to the `prey’. The MiG 27, the `weapon’ that flew at 1,000 km per hour and 18,500 feet above the ground took a surprise move.

With a deafening sound, the fighter jet, that flew just 100 metres above Kilinochchi town, dropped four 500 kgs bombs continuously on the location. The Israeli made Kfir, which followed the MiG 27, also flying low level dropped four 250 kg bombs.

The two Commanding Officers of the No. 12 Jet Squadron (MiGs) Group Captain Sajeewa Hendawitharane and No. 10 Jet Squadron (Kfirs) Shehan Fernando saw the rubble and the massive inferno around the location. They smelled the damage, but were bit suspicious whether the `most wanted man of that day’ - LTTE’s political wing leader S.P. Thamilselvam was dead or alive.

Fighter pilots of No 12 Squadron (MiG 27)-Left to Right :Flight Lieutenant Krishantha Kapugama (MiG-27 Squadron pilot) Flight Lieutenant Roshan Perera (MiG-27 Squadron pilot) Squadron Leader Ranga Thiranagama (Officer commanding Training MiG-27 Squadron) Group Captain Sajeewa Hendawitharana (Commanding Officer MiG-27 Squadron) Squadron Leader Asela Jayasekera (Officer Commanding Operations MiG 27 Squadron) Flight Lieutenant Indika Premadasa (MiG-27 Squadron pilot) Not in the Picture Flight Lieutenant Shyam Ranasinghe (MiG-27 Squadron pilot)

The two senior fighter jet pilots, who had flown from the western flank via Iranamadu and East of A-9 Road, successfully landed at Katunayake at 6 a.m. The SLAF Commander Air Marshal Roshan Goonetillake wanted the COs of the two Squadrons to lead the mission and it was just after 15 days of the LTTE attack on the Air Force Base at Anuradhapura.

“After analyzing the video images of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for couple of days and intelligence reports and also locations given by the Directorate of the Military Intelligence Commander and the Director Operations Air Commodore Harsha Abeywickrema directed us to take the target. They had identified three locations, but we had doubts whether the man we were to hunt down was there at that particular day and time. But according to information, he should have been there”, Hendawitharane said adding that they had two options to take a good kill.

One was making a missile attack and the other was to take some other targets to divert the attention and then take on the specific target. The SLAF Commander believed firmly in surprise attacks directed by the two fighter pilots to take a surprise move, but warned to be very careful about the vicinity as there were civilian houses around.

“We were warned not to exceed the perimeters of the boundary of the location and if that bomb went off damaging those houses I am sure the Commander would take `my neck’”, he giggled.

The duo got the happy news after five hours. The Director Operations called and congratulated them saying “You did it”.

“I felt a great relief as Thamilselvam did so much damages to us” CO of the No. 12 Squadron said.

Bombing Thamilselvam is just one among several achievements of the Squadrons. In 2000 for the first time, the MiG 27s were introduced and the second batch was inducted in 2007. They played a vital role in the Eelam War IV where the MiGs flew often `hunting’ - the LTTE’s training bases, bunkers, camps, important buildings and Sea Tiger bases.

The Squadrons, with seven fighter pilots, carried out over 845 sorties and dropped 1,071 tonnes of bombs and ammunition against the LTTE terrorists during the Eelam War IV. Earlier the fighter pilots who flew in F7 could drop only one bomb at a time, but the MiGs carried eight bombs weighting 500 kg each.

According to Hendawitharane, becoming a fighter pilot is a dream of every pilot of the SLAF. It is a graduation step by step. The seven MiG fighter pilots were first trained in K8 jet trainer. After completion of 100 hours they were `graduated’ to fly F7 which needed to complete 60 sorties to take into the MiG 23.

The smart guys always wearing sun glasses and looking relaxed are not so when they are at the cockpit of the MiG 27. It is a deadly one-man show. If their minds are not sound enough it is less than a second to end the story.

It is not so `rosy job’, but a one-man show where a single soul does communication, aviation and navigation. He is not relaxed until he touches back the soil for safety. Without even a few seconds to relax he is just like a machine which talks with towers, navigate from one place to another, finding the targets, being aware of the risks involved and remedies for them in emergencies, attacking the correct target and then flying to his own safety.

Explaining the advanced facilities the fighter pilots got under the supervision of the SLAF Commander, Hendawitharane said that the notable improvement was that they got the facilities for analyzing the targets using UAV and Beach Craft visuals in this war.

“First we study each and every target carefully and then decide the type of weapon that should be used to neutralize that particular target. Earlier we had only one type of bomb for every target. Whatever the damage caused from a general purpose bomb is very minimal and our Commander introduced most effective weapons for different targets like a bunker, a hideout, a house of an enemy, runways and floating objects like Sea Tiger movements. This time we did `target to weapon matching’. When there is a target we decide on the best weapon that we should use to neutralize that target and then we decide the number of bombs that we should drop to neutralize that target. We do not use maximum force, but the minimum force to destroy the target. We did not use three bombs when it required only two bombs to destroy a target”, he explained.

As Group Capt. Hendawitharane explained, the success of their targets should not only be a credit to the fighter pilots. He saluted the ground staff - from the technicians to those who guarded the hangers for giving the fighter pilots a hand.

They did a wonderful job. If I want to take off at 6 a.m. to neturtalize a target I should tell the technicians 24 hours before as they have to transport the bombs carefully from a different location. Though we flew at 6 a.m., the technicians commenced loading bombs into a special container after mid-night, and then carefully, transported them closer to the aircraft. Just imagine if four fighter jets are to be sent, the technicians need to load, unload and place 32 bombs which weigh 500 kgs each taking strict safety precautions.

They should place the bombs half and hour the pilot sits in the cockpit. They did a great job”, he appreciated their support given for the fighter pilots to release the bombs without a mistake.

Before taking off for the target, the pilots had a comprehensive briefing lasting for over two hours where they discussed the limitations - correct temperature, time factor, hydraulic pressure in the aircraft - they face when flying for the target.

“Since the pilot is flying alone, he needs to remember all these `lessons and advices’. If there is fire during take off he needs to know what exactly he is supposed to do as he hardly gets time to think. If there is hydraulic failure or a default in landing gears, he should know what to do”, he said.

No fighter pilot is allowed to fly unless the doctor recommends that he is medically fit. After the briefing, we go to the aircraft and launch the mission, which lasts from 55 minutes to an hour, the maximum.

The time depends on the distance. When carrying bombs it is a risk to fly high at high speed but at low level we flew at high speed as the possibility of the LTTE attacking us was there. But when flying low at very high speed there are risks like birding, high tension power lines, high ground and need to be 100 percent perfect.

“Imagine if flying 100 metres above the ground at that speed. 1,000 kph means you are flying 300 metres per second and if you are flying just 100 metres above the ground with less than one third of a second you will hit the ground”, he said recalling an occasion where he had to change the engine as a bird flew into the machine when taking off, in 1994.

A pilot with an experience of over 23 years in the SLAF, who had taken part in Eelam war I, II, III and IV, Hendawitharane said that they did night operations for the first time in the SLAF history during the Eelam war IV. He thanked the Commander and Director Operations for introducing night operations, where they first did flying under quarter moon face, half moon face and finally in total darkness.

Another significant change in their style of flying, according to the No. 12 Squadron Chief was the low level flying which the pilots had never done before.

“When doing high level bombing everyone can see and hear us. There were bunkers in every house. Thamilselvam, Pottu Amman and Prabhakaran had bunkers in their houses. When they heard a MiG they crept into the bunkers and they were safe there. When carrying out low level missions we just bombed and vanished. The element of surprise was 100 percent”, he explained.

These fighter pilots know the risk, but they dared not fly just 100 metres above the ground level amidst the LTTE pointing 30 mm guns to attack them when the target was designed to destroy a top leader or an important location like a massive training base.

“Low level flying kills you but it thrills you also. You get lots of fun as things are moving very fast”, he said.

“When the LTTE was boxed to Puthumathalan in the No Fire Zone, the fighter pilots could easily kill all the leaders in a one go, but the Commander had said `Lets allow the Army to finish this war’. We saw how the leaders were running, but if we dropped bombs we could not identify their bodies”, said Hendawitharane, who was alerted for over 21 days at China Bay with other fighter pilots to destroy the terrorists if they fled by sea.

A product of Trinity College, Kandy who joined the SLAF at the age of 18, the No. 12 Squadrons Commanding Officer said his happiest moment in life was the day that he was selected to fly fighter jets in 1991 when only five pilots had been chosen for the first time in the SLAF history to become fighter pilots of the SLAF.

According to him, the MiGs and fighter helicopters of the SLAF had changed the tide and the pilots who were so committed made a silent contribution since the beginning of the Eelam War IV, had destroyed the LTTE’s ammunition dumps, training camps and so many important places. He said that the fighter squadrons were happy about their past when they took on destroying the LTTE for over three and half years.

All the FIghter pilots in Sri Lanka Air Force just after the Victory Parade
Left to Right Flying Officer Chinthake Hettiarachchi (F-7 Squadron pilot) Flight Lieutenant Roshan Perera (MiG-27 Squadron pilot) Flight Lieutenant Prabhath Wijekoon (F-7 Squadron pilot) Squadron Leader Priyantha Udayakumara (Kfir Squadron pilot) Squadron Leader Vajira Jayakody (Officer Commanding Operations Kfir Squadron) Squadron Leader Poojana Gunathileke (Officer commanding Training F-7 Squadron) Wing Commander Sampath Wickramaratne (Commanding Officer F-7 Squadron) Group Captain Sajeewa Hendawitharana (Commanding Officer MiG-27 Squadron) Wing Commander Shehan Fernando (Commanding Officer Kfir Squadron) Squadron Leader Asela Jayasekera (Officer Commanding Operations MiG 27 Squadron) Squadron Leader Ranga Thiranagama (Officer commanding Training MiG-27 Squadron) Squadron Leader Dinesh Jayaweera (Officer Commanding Operations F-7 Squadron) Flying Officer Malinga Senanayake (F-7 Squadron pilot) Flying Officer Monath Perera (Kfir Squadron pilot)
(Not in photo) Flight Lieutenant Dinesh Nagasena (Officer commanding Training Kfir Squadron) Flight Lieutenant Krishantha Kapugama (MiG-27 Squadron Pilot) Flight Lieutenant Indika Premadasa (MiG-27 Squadron Pilot) Flight Lieutenant Shyam Ranasinghe (MiG-27 Squadron pilot)

According to Group Capt Hendawitharane, the life of a fighter pilot is very interesting with lots of challenges. “When you are a fighter pilot you can go wherever you want in the sky and if you want to reach a top of a huge cloud, you are just there. He said that the fighter pilots would not remember their loved ones or anything as they shoulder a huge responsibility.

“Simply we do not have time to think of anything else as the time for the prey is just an hour. Within that time we have to do everything alone”, he smiled.

The 30-year-old deadly battle is over. Will the job of the fighter pilots be over? “No, they will be the `guns’ who will display the power of the nation, which will boom with new harbours, air ports and tourists from the West”, he said.

With no regrets, the boss of the fighter pilots of the SLAF said that they drew great inspiration during the Eelam War IV when they never took targets to kill innocent civilians, but always inflicted the maximum damage on the terrorists.

“People know little about the occasions that the fighter pilots turned back abandoning the mission when they witnessed innocent people around”, he recalled.