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Shahid Kapur gets ready for the take-off A Veeramani | DNA
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Bollywood actor Shahid Kapur — nicknamed Sasha — on Saturday flew a F-16 IN Super Viper and joined an elite club of celebrity fighter aircraft flyers that includes the likes of Ratan Tata and Sachin Pilot, at Aero India in Bangalore.
Speaking to DNA after his firstflight as co-pilot with USA’s Paul ‘Bear’ Randell, he said that this is the first time he has flown an aircraft and just wished if he could fly one as a pilot.
He admits that the first words that he uttered when the flight took off are “unprintable”. “But it was exciting. I was constantly talking to ‘Bear’ and he was guiding me on how to fly. I was also asking him to let me fly for longer. The 45-minute flight has been an experience to cherish forever. I feel really lucky to fly an F-16,” he says. “It cannot get closer than this to feel like an IAF officer to fly one. I could not have asked for more. I feel really privileged and extremely happy. There is nothing more I could have asked for.”
He says the flying experience has been of great help towards his role in his upcoming film, Mausam, in which he enacts the character of a co-pilot.
So what special training did he go through to fly the machine? “As needed, I went through the medical tests and simulator training for a month. I had to be physically fit. There was no special diet but I was told not to eat too much and keep myself well hydrated,” he says.
Shahid has seen the Aero India air shows only on TV before. But now he vows not to miss an Aero Show and to fly again.
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