Aero India 2011: Bangalore student beats 2,400 to fly Gripen

A 22-year-old student from Bangalore-based BMS Engineering College will today be doing one thing that most of us can’t even dream of—fly a fighter jet.

A mechanical engineering student, Shashank HR outplayed 2,400 contestants to win the Gripen Top Guns contest, which would offer him a chance to fly the Gripen fighter jet.

On Saturday, five of the 2,400 took the final test: they were made to fly the Gripen flight simulator to choose the ‘top gun’. And Shashank emerged as the winner. Shashank had the habit of flying planes on his home computer and he said that made his task easy during the simulation trials. Buoyed up with this win, he says, after his engineering course get over, he would join “an Indian public sector undertaking which is engaged in aerospace activities”.

On Sunday, Shashank will co-pilot the Gripen — one of the contenders for the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) — for an hour.

Another Bangalorean, Kashmera Shah, an employee with Infosys and the lone woman to make it to the final, was thrilled over the simulation test.  “It had been my childhood dream to be an air force pilot. The day my mother saw the contest advertisement she asked me to enroll and I am happy that I came this far,” a elated Shah said.