JODHPUR: In the eighth mishap this year, a MiG-27 fighter plane of the IAF on Wednesday crashed near Jodhpur in Rajasthan shortly after take off for a routine sortie, but the pilot bailed out safely.
"A MiG-27 crashed near Jodhpur to. The pilot is safe," an IAF official said in New Delhi. This is the fourth MiG-27 mishap recorded by the IAF this year.
"The crash took place about 60 km away from here," Defence spokesperson Lt Col N N Joshi said in Jodhpur.
The aircraft took off from Jodhpur air base around 1300 hours, but crashed within 20 minutes at a spot 60 km south of the Rajasthan town.
"The pilot, Flt Lt A Patni, reported trouble in the aircraft 15 minutes after take off. The aircraft had attained an altitude of about 2 km when the trouble was reported. The aircraft crashed around 1320 hours," the official said.
The IAF, quickly, ordered a court of inquiry to find out the reasons for the mishap.
"The is no report of any loss of life on the ground in the crash which took place in Mandawas village," B L Meena, Superintendent of Police of Pali district, which is near the crash site, said.
"The pilot has been located and is safe," the SP said.
The MiG-27 crash comes just a couple of days after a Cheetah helicopter of the IAF crash landed near the Siachen Glacier base camp.
Of the eight air crashes recorded by the IAF this year, MiG-27 was involved in four.
The first MiG-27 crash took place on February 16 at Hashimara in West Bengal, the second on June 23 again at Hashimara and the third on September 24 at Kalaikunda in West Bengal.
Apart from the MiG-27s, the IAF also lost two MiG-21 variants this year, one at Bagdogra on February 19 and the other in Halwara in Punjab on June 15.
The IAF also recorded two helicopter crashes this year.
Other than the one in Siachen Glacier, IAF lost a Cheetah in Jharkhand on September 11.
In February this year, the IAF had grounded its MiG-27 fleet for about four months following the Hashimara crash on February 16 in which an ace fighter pilot was killed.
After the crash in February, the IAF had ordered an investigation to look into the causes behind the mishap and the preliminary findings suggested that it could have taken place due to failure of 'low pressure turbine blades' in the engine.
Over 100 single-seater variants of the fleet were grounded due to problems in the R-29 engines of the aircraft.
The two-seater trainer variants of the aircraft remained operational as they are not equipped with R-29 engines. Later in June, the MiG-27s were back in the sky after minor modifications were made in their engines.
At present, the IAF has eight squadrons of the Russian-origin swing-wing MiG-27 aircraft for both air-to-air and ground attacks.
India had inducted the aircraft in the 1980s and would replace them with the 126 medium multirole combat aircraft (MMRCA), a USD 11-billion tender for which is currently being processed. A decision on the MMRCA winner is expected in early 2011 and contracts signed with the winning firm by June next.
Among the competitors for the MMRCA contract are US majors Lockheed Martin's F-16 and Boeing's F/A-18s, Russian MiG-RAC's MiG-35, French D'Assault's Rafale, Swedish SAAB's Gripen and European consortium EADS' Eurofighter Typhoon.
Meanwhile, a few sheep have been reportedly killed in the incident, police said.
Police said villagers have told them that "a few sheep were killed when the plan crashed."
"Body of a sheep has been recovered, but exact number will be clear only when the debris will be removed," Sub Inspector Bhawani Singh of Rohat police station who was present at the site said.