On the 15th Apr, 1989, Lieutenant Uday Kumar Sondhi was authorized to fly as No. 2 in a tactical formation. The sortie was normal till the aircraft was rolling on to finals. On attempting to roll out of the descending turn Lieutenant Uday Kumar Sondhi experienced jamming of the control column and could not roll out on finals. Showing exceptional alacrity and awareness for his level of experience he correctly operated the servodyne dump value and opened the throttle despite the critically low reaction time available. However he gained only a limited control of the aircraft and was unable to role out of the turn. Faced with the likelihood of the aircraft crashing into a populated village on the approach Lieutenant Uday Kumar Sondhi displayed exemplary courage of an extreme order in staying with the aircraft despite immense danger to himself. He used the limited control available to him to avoid the village and crashed in an open and unpopulated area thus saving a number of lives. Even after crashing, with the aircraft and his own flying clothing in flames Lieutenant Sondhi displayed a remarkable presence of mind, composure and professionalism in exhorting the civilian who arrived on the scene to come to his aid. Lieutenant Sondhi's left ankle was jammed in the crash and displaying commendable resistance to pain and with flames licking at his body he was able to drag his leg out. Literally on fire he was still able to instruct the locals in pulling him out of the burning wreckage. During his ordeal he suffered 45% severe burns and subsequently his left leg was required to be amputated below the knee.

Lieutenant Uday Kumar Sondhi, thus, displayed tremendous courage and presence of mind in a very critical situation.