At 65, he’d love to fly the lean, mean F-18. It’s been a hard day’s night for Ratan Tata, who has just soldiered through a marathon four-hour session with his shareholders. But mention the word ‘flying’ and the fatigue falls away.

He may be head honcho of the country’s largest diversified conglomerate, but he’s also a child of the sky. In an informal chat, the Tata Group chairman and pilot opens throttle on one of his great loves—flying. "If I got a chance to fly the F-18, I’d seriously consider it,’’ he said, referring to the sleek fighter plane.

As an architecture student at Cornell in the US, the young Ratan washed aeroplanes at the local flying club to gain flying hours. That was in the socialist ‘50s when the Indian government had restricted the amount one could spend abroad to $180 a month. Since flying was an expensive proposition, he had to become a cleaner.

Although Mr Tata clambered into the cockpit when he was only 14, he made his first solo flight at 17, the legal age to fly an aeroplane. His under-17 classes were taken at the Bombay Flying Club,where he learned to fly a two-seater Piper-cub aircraft. In 1962, a call from his ailing grandmother ended his US sojourn.

"If that had not happened, I would not have returned to India,’’ he reminisced. Stationed for six-and-a-half years in ‘Steel City’ Jamshedpur, he became a "virtual’’ pilot for Tata Steel.

"I enjoyed flying people across the country for official meetings and on weekends,’’ he said. "I flew both the single Bonanza and twin-engined Beech aircraft.’’

But what really gave him a thrill was the 100-minute flight, travelling at supersonic speed, in a Mirage from Dassault in France to the US while undergoing his annual refresher training at an aeronautical school.

"Oh, the Mirage flight was terrific,’’ he recounted. He’s not a great fan of the Concorde, though. "Apart from saving time, I never liked travelling in a Concorde,’’ he said.