Another MiG-21 crashes,pilot safe

“It was 8 km short of airfield on its return from Rajpura side when the crash occurred,” an Indian Air Force spokesperson said.

The Indian Air Force has ordered a Court of Inquiry to ascertain the exact cause of the crash.

The pilot,Flight Lieutenant Arunabh Ghosh,who suffered minor injuries,was admitted to Military Hospital in Ambala Cantonment.

Eyewitnesses said the parachute of the pilot got stuck in electric cables near Surya Group of Institute,nearly 1 km from the crash site and people detached the “hanging and unconscious” pilot,administered First Aid at the institute before he was flown to Ambala Cantonment in a military helicopter.

“I was going to Ambala on motorcycle when I saw the aircraft crashing into the fields. I along with few other people reached the place where the parachute of the pilot got stuck in electric cables. We detached the hanging and unconscious pilot from the parachute,” said Iqbal Singh,a resident of Bapror village,adding the pilot soon regained consciousness.

“The pilot was in a semi-conscious state and appeared in a state of shock. His parachute got entangled in electricity wires,but he was cut loose by onlookers. A few people caught hold of the pilot and brought him to the institute,where he was administered First Aid. After a few minutes,a helicopter reached the site and picked up the pilot and took him away,” said Pavas,an engineering student at the institute.

The crash occurred near the busy National Highway-1,near Shambu toll barrier,and had it fallen on the highway,it would have caused casualties. There were two adjoining villages of Bapror and Rajgarh,near the crash site.

“Since it is a busy highway and the jet crashed a few meters away from the highway,the highway got jammed for about 30 minutes till the police arrived and finally cleared the highway. Fire tenders reached the spot and doused the fire. Wreckage of the jet were seen lying even at a distance from the place where it actually hit the ground,” said Vikas,another student at the institute.

The ‘Black Box’ of the aircraft was recovered in the evening,the Haryana government said in a press release.

Meanwhile,there were rumours doing the rounds of two pilots in the aircraft when it crashed. But IAF dismissed it and said it was a single pilot aircraft.

“It was a single pilot aircraft and not a training aircraft. Only one pilot,Flight Lieutenant Arunabh Ghosh,was in the aircraft and he is safe,” an IAF spokesperson in Ambala said.

However,security guard Raghbir Singh,on duty at a building on the other side of the road,claimed that two “chhatris” (parachutes) emerged from the aircraft. “Main dawandol jahaaz vichon chingare nikalde vekhe ate phir do chhatrian niklian vekhian (I saw sparks in the haphazardly moving plane and then saw two parachutes emerging from it),” Raghbir said,adding no one was attached to one of the parachutes.

Repeated mishaps

Often referred to as “flying coffin” due to its vulnerability to crashes,it was the second crash of MiG-21 series aircraft in little over a month and third crash this year.

* In the beginning of August,a MiG crashed in Bikaner district of Rajasthan and claimed the life of pilot,who had managed to eject from the aircraft but died due to injuries sustained during the crash.

* Another MiG aircraft had crashed in Sheopur district of Madhya Pradesh in February this year with its pilot ejecting safely.

* In 2010 also,10 crashes of MiG series aircraft had taken place which included two MiG-21 and four MiG-27 aircraft.