It was 26 May 99.

The IAF had commenced air strikes the previous day and achieved good results. Task for me was to destroy the enemy positions with 40 deadly 80 mm rockets in the Batalik sub-sector. Ammunitions including the lethal 30 mm canons were loaded.

I took off in Hyena formation as No. 2 to 'Mando' - Sqn Ldr A Mandokhot. After a flight of fifteen minutes, our formation of MiG-27s reached snow covered mountains. We were over the target area. Despite the difficulty in identifying the features, 'Mando' had quickly oriented himself; and within seconds I was zeroing on the target. I saw the enemy concentration and let go all the 40 rockets in one salvo.

Having acquired the target I carried out a second attack, this time with 30 mm guns. This pass commenced at an altitude of 5.9 km and terminated at 5.8 km, after a one-second burst.

I then eased out of the dive. As I went to the flares, I felt a backward jerk due to sudden deceleration. I noticed the RPM winding down and JPT dropping. I used the speed to gain height. The speed by then had dropped to 500 kmph. The RPM having dropped below 20% and correlating with reducing JPT, I realised that the engine had flamed out. I immediately jettisoned the rocket pods, swept the wings to 160 and attempted a relight. The leader having been informed, I continued lowering the attitude to maintain the speed which had fallen to 450 kmph (IAS).

The hills were fairly close and I turned right by 300 - 400 to avoid the hill features coming straight ahead. The valley was in a east-west direction, about 5 km away. With no signs of engine restarting, I realised that my height was critical and that I might not clear the northern edge of the bowl. Ejection was inevitable, so I gave an R/T call to my leader, 'Mando! Nachi ejecting!' and pulled the ejection handle.

The parachute opening shock brought me out of the grey out. The aircraft crashed into the edge of the hill and my seat had cleared the ridge. After about 10 - 15 seconds of para-descent, I landed on knee- deep snow and soft ice which cushioned the landing. On my landing, I saw some people running towards me from a distance of about 1-1.5 km. Bullets were fired from different directions. I could somehow escape the bullets but got into the enemy hands.

Till 03 Jun 99, I remained as PoW in Pakistan.

Also Read:
1. IAF’s Kargil hero Nachiketa soars higher http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20060818/j&k.htm#3
2. VIDEO : Kargil hero lives to tell his tale http://www.ibnlive.com/videos/19161/kargil-hero-lives-to-tell-his-tale.html
3. Kambampati Nachiketa on Wikipedia
4. Bharat Rakshak IAF Officers Database Page for Nachiketa

Acknowledgement: This article was taken from the IAF Journal 1999