A sombre mood descended on the Dubai Airshow after an Indian Air Force Tejas fighter jet crashed during a negative-G manoeuvre, killing Wing Commander Namansh Syal. The accident cast a shadow over the biennial event, prompting an emotional response from US F-16 demonstration pilot Taylor “FEMA” Hiester.
Hiester, part of a US Air Force demo team modelled after the Thunderbirds, had been preparing for his own display when the Tejas went down in flames. In a reflective Instagram post to his 150,000 followers, he expressed grief and solidarity and revealed that his team chose to withdraw from their final performance—a rare decision in a tightly choreographed, commercially driven environment.
“Though the show made the shocking decision to continue with the flying schedule, our team along with a few others made the decision to cancel our final performance out of respect to the pilot, his colleagues and family,” the 34-year-old wrote.
He described walking past the Tejas crew standing silently beside an empty parking spot, the ladder still on the ramp and the pilot’s belongings untouched in his rental car. “I suppose each of us contemplated their new reality that came in an instant,” he added—capturing the ever-present risks that bind fighter pilots worldwide.
As the airshow moved forward with celebratory announcements, Hiester said he felt out of place. Cheers from the crowd, sponsor acknowledgments, and a closing message—“Congratulations to all of our sponsors… we’ll see you in 2027”—jarred against the grief lingering on the tarmac. He imagined his own team packing up amid blaring music and festive energy, calling the contrast deeply uncomfortable.
Yet the moment, he wrote, offered a reminder of what truly matters: the teammates who become family. “The people you invest in, the people that you love and the people that love you back… will be the only way you live past your own individual end.”
Hiester, a Texas-born F-16 Viper pilot with more than 1,500 flight hours, has since become a symbol of the global aviator brotherhood—one in which borders blur and loss is shared. Tributes poured in across aviation forums, with one user noting, “Humanity and camaraderie is still alive. Long live the brotherhood of men in uniform.”
