A woman trainee pilot of Indian Air Force (IAF) ejected safely as an aircraft on a routine training mission crashed near Hyderabad on Friday.
The crash occurred few minutes after the IAF Kiran aircraft took off from Air Force Station, Hakimpet on the city outskirts.
"Today afternoon about 1400 hrs (2 pm), one IAF Kiran Aircraft on a routine training mission crashed around 50 km from Air Force Station, Hakimpet, Hyderabad. The trainee pilot ejected safely," said a Defence Ministry statement.
"A Court of Inquiry (CoI) has been ordered to investigate the cause," it added.
According to police, the aircraft crashed in the fields near Nagulabanda in Siddipet district.
Trainee pilot R Rasi escaped with minor injuries as she ejected with the help of parachute. She was shifted to a hospital.
The Deccan Chronicle reported that the aircrafts in operation at Hakimpet had exceeded their technical life and were being flown by cannibalising parts from other aircrafts, as many of them were older than the trainee pilots themselves.
“Due to considerable delay in production of contracted IJT aircraft, IAF continues to depend on the ageing and depleting Kiran fleet for training purpose,” DC quoted an earlier CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General of India) report as saying.
This is the second crash near Hyderabad in the last two months. A Kiran aircraft crashed into the fields in Ankireddypally village on September 28. The aircraft was completely charred, but the pilot ejected safely.
The aircraft got airborne from Hakimpet Air Force base on Thursday morning for a routine training sortie, and crashed around 11:45 am.
Minutes after taking off from Hakimpet Air Force Station, the aircraft developed some technical snag and crashed in the fields.
Eye-witnesses said they heard a huge thud and soon flames engulfed the aircraft.
On October 30, a door of a helicopter of the Telangana Aviation Academy detached and fell on a house at Lalaguda in the city. No one was injured.
IANS inputs