"My God! Politician piloting the aircraft?" was the refrain from many fliers on board the flight which took off the Jaya Prakash Narayan International airport at around 2.30 pm on Saturday, sources told TOI. However, the surprise, bordering on panic in case of some fliers, soon subsided when they came to know, through whispers, that Rudy, a Rajya Sabha member from Bihar, was a seasoned pilot. Their journey ended happily when the flight landed at the T-3 terminal of Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi around 4.10 pm.
"I am the only Indian politician with a licence to fly jumbo A-320 plane. I have been doing it for quite a long time. But taking IndiGo flight from Delhi to Patna and again to Delhi was a unique experience for me," Rudy, who hails from Saran district of Bihar, told TOI over phone.
"Piloting is my fourth profession. I take time off to fly. It rejuvenates me," the 48-year-old former Union civil aviation minister said.
Rudy holds a commercial pilot's licence with the specialization to fly A-320 from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)-approved SimCenter in Miami, Florida. Rudy, who had started learning flying from Bihar Flying Club, got this licence in 2007.
Rudy who flew a plane to Bihar for the first time on Saturday did feel some constraints due to the short length of runway. "It is a little short, but okay," Rudy, who says he keeps pursuing new professions every four years, said. Incidentally, his three other professions are practiSing law, teaching in college and politics.
Former Bihar CM Jagannath Mishra, who was on board the flight, said: "I was extremely happy to know that the flight was being piloted by Rudy. He is as good a pilot as a politician."
ATC officials at the city airport were also thrilled by the fact that the flight was being piloted by an extraordinary pilot. "He was more careful than normal pilots and very well abided by the air traffic rules," said a senior official, not wanting to be quoted. Rudy is an honorary pilot with IndiGo airlines.
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