Jamnagar:

Close on heels of the Jaguar fighter aircraft crash in Kutch district of Gujarat in which a senior Pilot lost his life, another accident involving such a fighter plane was averted at the Jamnagar air-base in the state today.

A Jaguar fighter which was also on routine training mission developed technical snag during landing and the eject button was automatically activated. The aircraft skidded off the runway though there was no major damage to it and the pilot was also safe. However a court of inquiry has been ordered in to the incident.

An IAF official said, ‘ Today morning, around 0920hrs, pilot of a Jaguar aircraft on a routine training mission from Jamnagar, safely ejected when the aircraft developed a snag during the landing phase. A Court of Inquiry has been ordered to investigate cause of the accident. ”

He said that in fact the snag developed when aircraft had landed on the runway. While it was running on the runway the eject button suddenly got activated and the pilot was thrown out only to land safely. The Jaguar stopped at its ouwn in the rough next to runway.

Notably, another such twin-engine Jaguar fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force had crashed on the outskirts of Beraja village in Mundra area of Kutch district killing the pilot and over half a dozen cattle on ground on June 5. It was also on a routine training sortie from Jamnagar air-base.

DeshGujarat