A MiG-23UB jet of Indian Air Force (IAF) which is used to train pilots for the MiG-27 fighters has been crashed in Rajasthan on Thursday. The aircraft was having tree-people on board and casualties has been reported, both the pilots had ejected safely. A defense source said that both the pilot and co-pilot are safe. It is said that Engine failure is been reason behind the crash.
Dr Ravi said that “The incident occurred in Balesar area, SP (Jodhpur Rural)”. IAF informed that the jet crashed approximately 60 km from Jodhpur while on a routine training mission. A Court of Inquiry (CoI) has been ordered.
This is the second crash this week. Earlier, an Indian Air Force helicopter was found crashed in Popum Pare district after missing for 24 hours and the debris of the helicopter could have been found only after massive search operations were conducted by the Indi Tibetan Border Police along with Indian Reserve Battalion and Arunachal Pradesh Police. Though the debris of the chopper was found yesterday but the Air Force is not confirmed that it is exactly the debris of the copper which went missing on July 4. The matter of concern is that in May, two pilots died after a Sukhoi-30 fighter jet crashed near the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border.
Only a limited number of MiG-23 fighter aircrafts are still in the service of Indian Air Force to train the pilots of MiG-27 after they were retired back in 2009. They were renamed Vijay after serving for 28 years and flying more than 154,000 hours.
