President Pratibha Devisingh Patil today became world's first woman president ever to take to the skies in a fighter aircraft. She undertook a 30 min sortie in a Sukhoi 30 MKI fighter aircraft this morning. Wing Commander S Sajan flew the supreme Commander of Indian Armed Forces into the sky for this historic event. The aircraft took off from the Lohegaon air base in Pune at 1100 hrs. Alongwith the President's aircraft, two other SU-30 fighters made the formation. The 74 year old President was looking tired but cheerful after the flight. This is the second time in the last four years that the Lohegaon base saw the commander-in-chief of the Indian armed forces flying in a Su-30 MKI aircraft. On June 8, 2006, then President A P J Abdul Kalam had taken a 30-minute sortie in the Su-30 MKI, an exercise that was positioned as a familiarisation flight as well as an act of motivating youngsters to join the armed forces. <br/>