I recall reading how Lyndon Johnson managed to get himself a seat  as an observer on a plane in the Pacific part of WWII. 

By the time he got to the White House, his role had mushroomed into "Raider Johnson" who had led 19 bombing raids against Japanese positions. 

And there are more recent examples, such as Hillary Clinton "being under fire" when she landed in Bosnia or the network anchor (can't remember his name) who claimed to be in the plane in Afghanistan "that was under fire from the Taliban".  

Hopefully Minister Sajjan manages to tone it down a bit in the future.