Sarang display team

Sarang; Indian Air Force Helicopter Display Team
	The Sarang HAL Dhruvs performing at Aero India 2013
Active	October 2003 to Present
Country	India
Branch	Indian Air Force
Role	Aerobatic display team
Size	14 Officers; 32 Airmen
Garrison/HQ	Sulur Air Force Station; Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
Commanders
Notable; commanders	Wg Cdr Hari Nair, Wg Cdr Shashank Misra
Insignia
Identification; symbol	100px
Aircraft flown
Helicopter	4 - HAL Dhruvs

Sarang (Sanskrit: सारंग meaning Peacock) is the helicopter display team of the Indian Air Force. The team flies four modified HAL Dhruv helicopters, also known as ALH (Advanced Light Helicopter). The team was formed in October 2003 and their first public performance was at the Asian Aerospace Show, Singapore, 2004.^[1] The name Sarang (Peacock in Sanskrit) is symbolic as it is the national bird of India. The unit was inducted as No.151 Helicopter Unit in 2005.

Performances

The first two helicopter display by HAL built Dhruv was carried out in at Aero India 2003 at Bangalore led by Sqn Ldr Pathania. In later part of 2003, it was named as Sarang and a three helicopter display team was formed. In 2004, the team started performing with four helicopter starting with the Singapore Air Show in 2004. The team performs regularly at Aero India, a biennial air show held at Yelahanka Air Force Station near Bangalore and at the anniversary of Indian Air Force in Hindon Air Force Base on 8th Oct. It also performed at Farnborough Airshow in 2008.

Incidents

In February 2007, the team had its first fatal accident when a Dhruv crashed at Yelahanka Air Force Station during a rehearsal before Aero India. Co-pilot Squadron Leader Priyesh Sharma was killed instantly and the pilot Wing Commander Vikas Jetly received serious head injuries.^[2] Later Wing Commander Vikas Jetly succumbed to his injuries on 11 January 2011 at Delhi, after being in a comatose state for nearly 4 years after the accident.