Flying Officer Sanjay Malik is on the posted strength of a MiG-21 Bis Squadron of Air Force since 01 Apr 91.

On 13 Oct 93 he was authorised to fly a practice interception sortie. During the sortie he observed that the fuel gauge was indicating a rapid loss of fuel. On looking in the rear view mirror he saw a dense white smoke trail. Displaying exceptional presence of mind and maintaining his calm, he recognised it as a massive fuel leak from his aircraft. He also realised that such a fuel leak could lead to his aircraft catching fire and exploding in the air with a possibility of losing his life. In any case his aircraft had soon run out of fuel necessitating an ejection resulting in a definite loss of a valuable aircraft.

Fg Offr S Malik, with utter disregard to his own safety and with great courage and fortitude remained with the aircraft. Assessing the situation that the nearest airfield Bhuj was not available, he imme diately turned towards base i.e. Naliya Airfield which was still 80 km. away. He made a quick calculation of available time (eight minutes) before his engine would flame out. This entailed returning to base which was approximately seven minutes away. He planned a straightin direct approach towards this, he promptly accelerated to 950 kmph speed, declared his emergency and coolly sought assistance of the local radar to position his ac directly on final approach. Despite risk to his life, he handled the emergency in an exceptionally professional manner­notwithstanding his limited total service flying experience of only 570 hours and carried out a successful landing. On landing, the fuel available in his aircraft was for one minute's flying only, indicative of the grave emergency he had handled. In handling the grave emergency, Fg Offr S Malik displayed exceptional courage in keeping with the best traditions of the Indian Air Force. Safe recovery of ac provided vital evidence during investigations, which would go a long way in instituting remedial measures for future.

For exceptional devotion to duty the President is pleased to award 'Vayu Sena Medal' to Fg Offr Sanjay Malik.