Fernandes, 73, will wear an anti-gravity suit when he is strapped into a trainer MiG-21 at the crash-ridden Ambala airbase in northern India but the jet engine will fire only after he is medically checked, an air force spokesman said.

"The defence minister will be mainly checked for normal blood pressure and after he attends the routine (meteorological) briefing, he will take off on a 25-minute sortie," spokesman Squadron Leader Mahesh Upasani said.

Upasani said Fernandes would ride a MiG-21 that will perform only "basic manoeuvres."

"It is a normal aircraft and no special arrangements have been made," Upasani said of the aircraft, capable of reaching speeds of up to 1,300 kilometres (806 miles) an hour.

Air force sources, however, said Fernandes' pilot has been instructed to maintain flying discipline with the defence minister on board.

"On a MiG, the G-force factor is tremendous and if it goes into a loop then even a fit pilot can black out and with Fernandes in the cockpit we will not take that chance," a source said.

"What worries is the landing sequence," the source said of the de-acceleration the aircraft undergoes on touch-down at a dizzying 230 kilometres (143 miles) an hour --- a factor behind numerous MiG-21 crashes in India.

Last week, India's former junior foreign minister virtually taunted Fernandes on the frequent MiG crashes, and during a debate in parliament goaded the defence minister into taking a ride.

The outspoken septuagenarian accepted the challenge, saying he had requested air force chief Air Chief Marshal S.K. Krishnaswamy for a MiG ride but his job as defence minister had kept him chained to his desk instead.

Last month, Fernandes became one of the few defence ministers worldwide to hop a ride on a Suhkoi-30 MK frontline fighter jet, almost a year after spending a night inside a submarine.

Since he became defence minister in 1998, Fernandes has travelled 30 times to the Siachen glacier in Kashmir, where the icy heights of up to 6,969 meters 23,000 feet have claimed more soldiers' lives than actual battle.

But the sources said a ride on a MiG, the mainstay of the Indian air force, is a different experience.

"There is no air-conditioning or other human comforts provided in the plane because the Russians made the MiG-21 as a pure fighting machine," the air force source added.

The air force says 52 Indian MiG-21s have crashed in the past three years and has blamed 24 of them on pilot error, 20 on technical defects and three on bird-hits.

Parents of several pilots killed in MiG crashes plan to appeal to President Abdul Kalam to ground India's MiG-21 fleet, which includes planes up to 30 years old.

Last week, Kavita Gadgil, whose son Abhijit was killed in a midair MiG-21 explosion in 2001, called Fernandes' plan to fly on the warjet a "political stunt."

"Instead of finding a solution on how to prevent the MiGs from crashing, the minister is going for a joyride and stunts," said Gadgil.

Experts have blamed the MiG crashes on the delay in finalising a 20-year-old plan to buy 66 advanced jet trainers worth 1.63 billion dollars to graduate rookie pilots to supersonic jets like the MiG-21.

"Maybe Friday would be a learning experience for the minister," added the source.

WAR.WIRE