Fighter aircraft of Indian Air Force "MIG-21" crash-lands
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
New Delhi, May 23, IRNA
India-MIG-Crashes
A MIG-21 fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force on Friday crash-landed at the Bagdogra airfield, in Siliguri of West Bengal state, but the pilot was safe.
The aircraft was returning from a training sortie when its undercarriage failed to come out and the fighter had to virtually make a belly crash-landing, PTI reported here quoting the sources.
While landing, the aircraft also caught fire and three fire-tenders fought for about half-an-hour to douse the blaze, according to IAF Group captain M K Dey.
The pilot was safe, Dey said.
The debris of the fighter was on the Air Force side of the airbase, so all civilian flights to Bagdogra remained unaffected, police sources said.
The MIG fighter was of type 77 make which are in the process of being phased out.
This is the second crash of a MIG-21 aircraft this year.
A MIG-21 aircraft crashed near Bhuj airbase on February 15.
However, the pilot managed to bail out safely.
The IAF has ordered a court of inquiry to probe the cause of the crash.
In the last five months, five aircraft of the IAF have met with accidents.
A MIG-27 fighter crashed at nearby Hashimara airbase on January 31.
A newly-acquired Hawk advanced jet trainer crashed last month at Bidar in Karnataka and an HPT-2 trainer aircraft crashed last week at Medak in Andhra Pradesh killing a woman flying cadet.
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