New Delhi: A Kiran MK-II trainer aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) crashed at Keesara near Hyderabad on Thursday, the police said. The accident occurred around 11:45 am in Ankireddypalli village, about 30 km from the Telangana capital, but the pilot ejected safely before the crash.
The pilot of the aircraft is safe, Rachakonda police commissioner Mahesh M. Bhagwat told agencies. A Court of Inquiry (CoI) will ascertain the cause of the crash, an Air Force official in New Delhi said.
“Around 11.45 am today, a Kiran aircraft, which got airborne from Air Force Station Hakimpet in Hyderabad for a routine training mission with a trainee Flight Cadet, crashed. The pilot is safe,” the IAF official said.
Built by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, the Kiran MK-II is a twin-seater aircraft but at the time of the incident just one pilot was in the aircraft, sources said. Mr Bhagwat said IAF officials took the pilot away and added that the aircraft caught fire after it crashed.
“We called up fire tenders and the fire was extinguished,” he said, and added that the accident site was an “isolated place”. On March 3, 2010, two pilots had been killed after a Kiran MK-II plane, which was part of the “Sagar Pawan” aerobatic team participating at the India Aviation show, had crashed into a building here.
