Tuesday, September 6, 2011

MiG 21 crashes

Neelam Mathews
Sept 6, 2011

The Indian Air Force has lost the third aircraft of the MiG series this year with a MiG-21 Bison crashing about 10 km from the Ambala airbase.

The pilot Flt Lt A. Ghosh, on a routine training sortie,ejected safely, says a release. There was no other casualty as the aircraft fell in an open field close to the busy national highway No.1 between Delhi and Amritsar.

The crash site is about 50 km from state capital Chandigarh.

The pilot was rescued by IAF Search and Rescue (SAR) helicopter and taken for medical examination. The cause of accident is being ascertained, and a Court of Inquiry has been ordered to carry out detailed investigation into the cause of accident.

Of the 793 MiG-21s inducted into IAF since 1963, over 340 have been lost in accidents.

The last three years saw around 42 accidents, in which the IAF lost 17 pilots.

India plans to retire the over 100 MiG-21s presently in its fleet by 2017.

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