MiG-21 crashes in Upper Assam, pilot bails out

A MiG-21 fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force on Thursday crashed near Chabua in Assam, but the pilot managed to bail out to safety.

The pilot, identified as Flying Officer Hemanth Dave, managed to bail out of the cockpit in time to safety, IAF sources said here.

A series of air crashes has hit the IAF, which is already reeling under a depleting fighter squadron strength.

With Thursday's crash, the second MiG-21 mishap within a month, the IAF has lost six aircraft this year.

The MiG-21 pilot was on a training sortie when the mishap occurred.

The type-77 aircraft got airborne from Chabua airbase around 1400 hrs, but went down immediately and crashed just outside the airbase into paddy fields after it experienced a technical snag.

"No damage to any civilian property or loss of lives was reported in the incident," IAF sources said in New Delhi.

"The pilot reported the technical error to the airbase and later jettisoned the aircraft," the sources added.

The IAF had lost a Kiran MK-II trainer aircraft of its Surya Kiran aerobatics team on Januray 21, a Sukhoi on April 30, a MiG-27 on May 15, a MiG-21 Bison on May 27, and an AN-32 on June 9.

In the Kiran crash at Bidar -- the Surya Kiran team's home base -- in Karnataka, the IAF lost an experienced fighter pilot, Wing Commander R S Dhaliwal, while it lost another fighter pilot and aircraft evaluator Wg Cdr P S Nara in the Su-30MKI crash in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan.

The AN-32 crash in Arunachal Pradesh cost the lives of seven IAF men, including the aircrew, and another six Army personnel.

In the MiG-27 and MiG-21 air crashes that occurred in Jodhpur in Rajasthan, the fighter pilots bailed out safely.

The MiG-21s are 1960s vintage fighter aircraft of Russian origin and IAF has 16 operational squadrons of the multi-role, single-seater aircraft including two training squadrons.

The aircraft have witnessed numerous fatal air crashes during its service in the IAF that in the late 1990s it earned the sobriquet "Flying Coffins." But since the turn of the century, IAF has successfully contained the MiG-21 crashes by improving training standards.

However, the IAF has faced a crunch since 2006, when its squadrons strength came down to 29.5 squadrons from the sanctioned strength of 39.5 squadrons, mainly due to some of them becoming obsolete or being phased out of service, and loss in air crashes.

There has been a slight improvement in the number of squadrons since 2008, when it rose to 33.5 following the induction of 'Hawk' Advanced Jet Trainers from the United Kingdom.

India has in 2007 floated tenders for buying 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) as a replacement for the MiG-21s and the process has just reached the stage of flight trials of the six global contenders that is likely to take place in July-August this year.

It could well take another three to five years for before the contract is signed and the first lot of the MMRCA is delivered to the IAF, sources said.

However, the IAF has prepared a perspective plan till 2022, when its squadron strength is likely to be at its peak, reaching 42 squadrons, contributed by the new acquisitions.