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Journalism of Courage
An IAF Mirage-2000 fighter was severely damaged on Monday afternoon when its landing gear was lowered too late at an airport in Mauritius, making it the second Mirage accident in less than a fortnight. The pilot is reported to be safe. The IAF said the Mirage would be flight worthy in a week.
On September 23, a Mirage crashed near Gwalior after its nosewheel came loose after take off.
Air Chief Marshal S. Krishnaswamy has got photographs of the damaged aircraft on email and been informed by the IAF contingent in Mauritius that the aircraft is back ‘on two legs’.
The damaged fighter was one of the six Mirages on their way home from South Africa where they participated, along with two IAF IL-78M mid-air refuellers, in the Golden Eagle 2004 air exercises with the South African air force. Owing to flying fatigue norms, a stop-over was scheduled at Mauritius on the journey back, where an air demonstration of the Mirages being refuelled by the IL-78M pair was worked out with the Mauritian government through the Ministry of External Affairs. The damaged Mirage will remain in Port Louis to undergo flight tests before being approved for the trip back to India while the other five Mirage-2000s and two IL-78M tankers will arrive in Trivandrum tomorrow.
The IAF said the aircraft’s underbelly is severely damaged. Eyewitnesses said the pilot lowered the aircraft’s landing gear too late, sending the fighter into a skid of over half a kilometre before stopping at the end of a landing strip. A court of inquiry has been set up.
