YYZPICS
03-22-2006, 02:46 AM
NEW DELHI - An Indian Air Force MiG series fighter jet crashed over the northwestern desert state of Rajasthan on Tuesday killing the pilot, news reports said.
The aircraft, which was on a regular sortie, crashed at Kanod village, about 500 kilometres southwest of Rajasthan capital Jaipur, PTI news agency reported quoting the police.
The Russian-made MiGs, which constitute nearly 70 per cent of India’s fleet, are so accident-prone they have been dubbed “flying coffins” and the air force plans to gradually phase them out.<O:p></O:p>
Of the 793 MiG 21 aircraft inducted in the Indian Air Force since 1963, a total of 330 had been lost in accidents, India’s defence minister Pranab Mukherjee informed Parliament recently.Tuesday’s accident was the 10th since April 2005.<O:p></O:p>
The accident comes barely four days after two pilots of the air force’s Surya Kiran formation aerobatics team were killed when their plane crashed during a practice session in the southern state of Karnataka on Saturday
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/subcontinent/2006/March/subcontinent_March799.xml§ion=subcontinent&col=
The aircraft, which was on a regular sortie, crashed at Kanod village, about 500 kilometres southwest of Rajasthan capital Jaipur, PTI news agency reported quoting the police.
The Russian-made MiGs, which constitute nearly 70 per cent of India’s fleet, are so accident-prone they have been dubbed “flying coffins” and the air force plans to gradually phase them out.<O:p></O:p>
Of the 793 MiG 21 aircraft inducted in the Indian Air Force since 1963, a total of 330 had been lost in accidents, India’s defence minister Pranab Mukherjee informed Parliament recently.Tuesday’s accident was the 10th since April 2005.<O:p></O:p>
The accident comes barely four days after two pilots of the air force’s Surya Kiran formation aerobatics team were killed when their plane crashed during a practice session in the southern state of Karnataka on Saturday
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/subcontinent/2006/March/subcontinent_March799.xml§ion=subcontinent&col=