WATCH | Russian Knights’ heartfelt tribute to Wing Commander Namansh Syal: ‘Brothers who didn’t return’

Russian Knights aerobatics team performed the ‘Missing Man’ manoeuvre to honour Wing Commander Namansh Syal, who lost his life in a Tejas fighter jet crash at the Dubai Air Show on Friday (Nov 21). The Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot was performing a low-altitude negative G turn when the plane collided with the ground and burst into a ball of fire, killing him. In a heartfelt gesture, the Russian Knights released a video of their performance during the same air show, honouring the Indian pilot.

In the video shared on the Russian social media platform, the team said that the Tejas crash was “impossible to describe”. They added that their final-day performance at the Dubai Air Show was dedicated to the “memory of the brothers who did not return from the last flight”.

Members of the US F-16 team also responded to the tragic incident at the air show in the United Arab Emirates. In a post on Instagram, Captain Taylor “FEMA” Hiester said that the decision to continue with the flying schedule despite the crash was “shocking”. The US team, along with a few others, cancelled their final performance out of respect for the Indian pilot, his colleagues and family.

“Our team along with a few others made the decision to cancel our final performance out of respect to the pilot, his colleagues and family”, he said. Recalling the horrific moments as the crash happened, he wrote, “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.”

Hiester added that the sense of normalcy at the venue following the crash was “uncomfortable” and “shocking” to him, but served as a stark reminder that “The show must go on.”

“It was uncomfortable for me for a lot of reasons, some of them selfish, imagining my own team walking out of the show site without me, rock and roll playing on the speakers as another act performs. However, that very jarring shock of misplaced, borderline alternate reality sense of normalcy was a gift in its own way,” he said.