On the 18th June, 1980, Flight Lieutenant Jayaraman Lakshmi Narayanan was flying a MiG aircraft on a routine night training mission, where flying is done by resorting to instrument only. This was his third sortie under such conditions. At a height of 5000 metres over Talwara town he experienced engine surge during a 60° banked turn.

He tried to roll out of the turn; when he found that the controls of the aircraft had jammed. The aircraft continued to roll and went into a steep dive over the town. At this stage, Flight Lieutenant Jayaraman Lakshmi Narayanan realized that a crash was imminent. He would have been fully justified in ejecting to ensure his personal safety. However, he decided to stay with the aircraft and made a determined effort to deviate the aircraft to save the township from disaster at the cost of his life. He reacted with exceptional presence of mind and professional skill and recovered the aircraft barely 600 metres above the sleeping township. The aircraft had lost too much height during recovery it was few seconds away from destruction. Flight Lieutenant Jayaraman Lakshmi Narayanan continued to display extremely high degree of airmanship and inspite of the controls malfunctioning he returned to base carrying out left turns only and landed safely. This young pilot unmindful of certain fatal consequences to himself, in his effort to save the inhabitants of township, displayed cool professional competence of an exceptional order.

In this action, Flight Lieutenant Jayaraman Lakshmi Narayanan displayed courage, presence of mind and professional skill of a high order.