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Last Updated Wednesday November 25 2020 05:40 AM IST

Sukhoi jet crashes in Maharashtra, pilots survive

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Sukhoi jet crashes in Maharashtra, pilots survive Top military and air force officials and police have rushed to the crash site in Maharashtra. Photo: Anantha Krishnan M

Nashik (Maharashtra): A Sukhoi SU-30 fighter jet crashed near Nashik while on a sortie but both pilots on board ejected safely, official sources said.

The crash may have occurred due to a technical glitch, the sources said.

Top military and air force officials and police have rushed to the crash site in Maharashtra.

An IAF spokesperson clarified in Delhi that the aircraft that met with the accident was an under-production one at HAL. "Crew of the aircraft are safe as they ejected to safety," he said.

The Sukhoi was piloted by Wing Commander Prashant Nair (Test Pilot) along with Sqn Ldr L Biswal (Flight Test Engineer). A Board of Investigation has been ordered to find out the exact cause.

iaf-sukhoi Wing Commander Prashanth Nair (R)

Wing Commander Prashant is one of the top Test Pilots of IAF and had piloted the Sukhoi that test-fired the BrahMos air version for the first time in March this year. Both are currently undergoing medical treatment as per the standard IAF procedures, post-ejection.

HAL produces Sukhois under licence at its division in Nashik. These are first-test flown by HAL test pilots - often on deputation from the IAF.

Later, these fighters are handed over to the IAF to do acceptance flights, by their own pilots. Post that, the fighters enter IAF Squadron.

The IAF has in its fleet close to 240 Sukhois and another 32 more are to be manufactured by HAL in Nashik. The first 50 Sukhois came from Russia and the remaining are being produced under licence by HAL.

Interestingly, this is the eight Sukhoi-30MKI that has crashed since induction. On May 23 last year, a Su-30 MKI had crashed on the Arunachal-Assam border killing two pilots. Squadron Leader D Pankaj and Flight Lieutenant S Achudev died after they failed to eject at the time of the crash.

Sukhoi jet crashes in Maharashtra, pilots survive

Flight Lieutenant Achudev was a native of Kozhikode while Squadron Leader Pankaj was from Tezpur.

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