Less than a week after a MiG-21 trainer aircraft crashed in Sibsagar district of Assam, a MiG-23 trainer went down near the Hashimara airbase in West Bengal on Monday. Fortunately, the two pilots managed to eject safely, an enquiry has been ordered to ascertain the cause behind the crash.
Wing Commander Sisodia, was on a training sortie with Flight Lieutenant Kartik in the MiG-23 when the mishap occurred at 1236 hours, some10 minutes after they took off from the Hashimara airstrip.
Initial reports said no injuries or damage to civil property was reported, however, the debris, of the fighter jet, were later reported to have hit a kutcha house, setting it on fire.
Witnesses say debris of the aircraft were scattered over a radius of 2 km in Nararthali area of Alipurduar district.
An enquiry was ordered into the mishap to ascertain the reason behind the crash, initial reports suggest "engine trouble" led to the accident.
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) recently, berated the IAF pilot training system, which vastly depends on obsolete trainer aircraft and simulators, outdated training methodologies and plans.
The crash takes aircraft accidents, in the force this year, to eight.
It comes at a time when the first batch of rookie IAF pilots are being trained on the newly-inducted Hawk AJTs (advanced jet trainers) to learn the intricacies of combat fighter jet flying.
Transitional training on the AJTs will help young pilots make the switch from flying sub-sonic aircraft like HPT-32 and Kiran trainers to handling supersonic aircraft like the MiG-21.
Wing Commander Sisodia, was on a training sortie with Flight Lieutenant Kartik in the MiG-23 when the mishap occurred at 1236 hours, some10 minutes after they took off from the Hashimara airstrip.
Initial reports said no injuries or damage to civil property was reported, however, the debris, of the fighter jet, were later reported to have hit a kutcha house, setting it on fire.
Witnesses say debris of the aircraft were scattered over a radius of 2 km in Nararthali area of Alipurduar district.
An enquiry was ordered into the mishap to ascertain the reason behind the crash, initial reports suggest "engine trouble" led to the accident.
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) recently, berated the IAF pilot training system, which vastly depends on obsolete trainer aircraft and simulators, outdated training methodologies and plans.
The crash takes aircraft accidents, in the force this year, to eight.
It comes at a time when the first batch of rookie IAF pilots are being trained on the newly-inducted Hawk AJTs (advanced jet trainers) to learn the intricacies of combat fighter jet flying.
Transitional training on the AJTs will help young pilots make the switch from flying sub-sonic aircraft like HPT-32 and Kiran trainers to handling supersonic aircraft like the MiG-21.
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