The Russian Knights aerobatics team performed the solemn ‘Missing Man’ manoeuvre at the Dubai Air Show to honour Wing Commander Namansh Syal, the Indian Air Force pilot who lost his life after a Tejas fighter jet crashed during a low-altitude negative-G manoeuvre on Friday. In a video shared on social media, the team described the tragedy as “impossible to describe”, dedicating their final-day performance to “the brothers who did not return from the last flight.”
Friday’s accident marked the second crash involving the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft in under two years. On March 12, 2024, another Tejas went down near a residential area in Jaisalmer while returning from the tri-services exercise ‘Bharat Shakti’ the jet’s first crash since entering service in 2001.
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A US aerobatic pilot, Taylor “FEMA” Hiester, also shared a moving reflection on Instagram, revealing why his team withdrew from their scheduled display after the incident.
“After two years of doing this job, that was a first for our team and it came just before our final performance of the season. Together and individually, we all quietly watched the aftermath unfold from a distance thinking about the Indian maintenance crew standing on the ramp next to an empty parking spot, aircraft ladder laid on the ground, the pilot's belongings still in his rental car. I suppose each of us contemplated their new reality that came in an instant,” he wrote.
Hiester added that the unsettling normalcy that returned to the venue underscored a harsh truth of the aviation world that despite loss, “the show must go on.”
