Young, aspiring pilots are giving it their best shot to realize long-cherished dreams of maneuvering cutting-edge, Russian-made Su-30MK2 fighter jets.

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The 935 Fighter Jet Regiment, stationed in Bien Hoa City, around 30 kilometers from Ho Chi Minh City, is currently home to more than a dozen pilots in their early or late 20s.

According to Colonel Tran Van Dung, the regiment’s chief, his unit has recently trained fresh graduates in flying Su-30MK2 jets instead of having them try their hands at three or four less challenging warplanes before moving on to  the ‘King Cobra’ variety.

Among them is Tran Thanh Luan, 27, who graduated top of his class from the Air Defense-Air Force Academy with the highest score since the academy’s foundation.

He and his peers were the first batch of six fresh graduates selected by the Ministry of Defense for training with Su-30MK2s.

They trained at the 935 Fighter Jet Regiment, the first in Vietnam that owns and operates an all-Su-30MK2 fleet, and boasts exceptional pilots and instructors. 

Outstanding performance by Luan’s batch has inspired the ministry to provide the same training for another two groups of new graduates.

Luan’s first instructor at the regiment is Colonel Nguyen Xuan Tuyen, the regiment’s former chief.

Under the meticulous coaching of Col. Tuyen, one of the Air Defense-Air Force of Vietnam’s most brilliant fighter pilots, Luan has excelled.

With 150 accumulative flying hours in Su-30MK2 planes under his belt, Luan has been engaged in night drill flights.

“Without arduous workouts, one can easily vomit during drills which see heights plummeting steeply from 6,000 to 2,000 meters in the blink of an eye. I’ve never thrown up, while some quit their mission halfway,” Luan revealed.

After completing the training course at the 935 Fighter Jet Regiment with flying colors and being stationed at another air force regiment, Luan has sought permission to stay at the 935 regiment.

“I can fly more often here and mature more. I miss the sky and the jets on days when there are no flights,” he said.

Dreams of taking to the sky

Luan is not the youngest at the regiment, however.

His successors are all in their early 20s, with the youngest being only 22 years old.

Tran Thanh Luan, one of the outstanding young pilots at the 935 Fighter Jet Regiment. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Like other trainees, Lieutenant Bui Van Lap, 24, always flies with an accompanying instructor.

Meanwhile, Hoang Dinh Trung, a 22-year-old pilot, was recently trained in landing and takeoff techniques, one of the toughest categories, as pilots are supposed to land as smoothly as they can at the velocity of approximately 300 km per hour.

Lieutenant Ha Van Minh is one of the special trainee cases at the regiment.

Coming from a poor family in the north-central province of Quang Binh, he was conscripted in 2007.

In 2009, he passed an entrance exam into an air force school located in Nha Trang City, the heart of the south-central province of Khanh Hoa.

Three years later, Minh was picked for a course in maneuvering Su-30MK2s.

The young man recounted that while he was working as a runway guard at an airport, he would wistfully admire Su-27 jets, forerunners of Su-30MK2s, cherishing his dream of becoming a fighter pilot one day.

As his dream was taking shape, Minh’s health checkup results made him ineligible to go on with the course in flying the Su-30MK2, threatening to shatter his dream.

However, during the following year, he took medication to treat his high liver enzymes and worked out strenuously in the hope of reversing the situation.

His efforts paid off. He was allowed to resume his course in flying Su-30MK2 warplanes, but was asked to retake all theoretical training just like a freshman.

He now practices a lot in the cockpit, and teaches himself the Russian language, which most cockpit instructions are in, to better prep himself for his future career.

One day in October 2015, he was hugely honored to engage in his first-ever Su-30MK2 flight, accompanied by a veteran instructor.

Meanwhile, Lieutantant Nguyen Thai Duong, 25, revealed that he and his peers have accumulated some 100 flying hours within a few months at the 935 Fighter Jet Regiment, the amount which their counterparts elsewhere generally amass in one year.

“Our regiment is working toward a policy in which one trainee is coached and accompanied by an instructor all along to improve our training quality. The young pilots have lived up to our expectations,” Colonel Tran Van Dung, the regiment’s chief, said.

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