MiG-21 crashes after take-off, pilot killed
DHNS,Bangalore:
A MiG-21 fighter jet of the Indian Air Force (IAF) crashed shortly after take-off at the Bangalore Airport on Wednesday afternoon. Test pilot Sq Leader K R Murthy was killed in the crash while co-pilot and flight test engineer K D Bhat, ejected safely. There was no casualty on the ground, as the plane crashed into the swamps close to the runway, Airports Authority of India (AAI) sources said.
The plane, which took off on a routine sortie from the Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment (A&STE) of the IAF at 12.45 pm, faced a loss of thrust hardly five minutes after getting airborne. Sq leader Murthy ejected along with Bhat. The aircraft reportedly drifted south, before crashing with a ball of flame 100 metres left to the shoulder of the runway. It is presumed that strong winds from the north could have drifted the ejected parachute of Sq leader Murthy into the flames, resulting in its burnout. He was immediately shifted to Command Hospital, where he succumbed to internal injuries at 3 pm, the IAF sources said. Sq leader Murthy, a native of Hyderabad in his early 30s, was a flight test pilot at the A&STE. He is survived by his wife.
Speaking to Deccan Herald, IAF spokesperson Wing Commander Raghunath said that according to preliminary investigations, the crash was suspected to be due to a bird-hit at a low altitude during take-off. Burned remains of a bird were found on the runway, he said. The pilots reportedly heard a thud and felt a loss of thrust, he added. Mr Raghunath said both the pilots were highly qualified and experienced.
A court of enquiry headed by Air Commodore P B Patil with an accident investigation team from the Air Head Quarters is probing into the crash.
As many as 161 pilots have lost their lives in 321 MiG crashes in the country over more than a decade. The MiG-21 fleet, dubbed “flying coffins†by critics for its record of fatalities, has done over 5,83,000 sorties in the last 10 years, which had resulted in 115 accidents with 50 fatalities.
CRASH & AFTER
Airport returns to normalcy
Bangalore, DHNS: According to Airports Authority of India (AAI) sources, the air traffic at Bangalore airport was suspended for nearly two hours after the crash. The runway, which was not damaged, was opened after two hours.
The wreckage was far beyond the runway and the aircraft was broken into two pieces, the sources added. The first aircraft to take off after the crash was the Indian Airlines flight to Mumbai, followed by another flight to New Delhi.
================
I tried to find some info on compariable PLAAF MiG-21 losses:
