Sukhoi aircraft, on test flight, crashes; pilot safe

Nashik, June 27

A Sukhoi aircraft awaiting induction in the Air Force crashed near here on Wednesday. The pilot and a flight test engineer on board ejected safely before the plane, which was on a routine sortie, hit ground near a grape farm, 25 km from Nashik.

The under-production Sukhoi Su-30MKI twinjet multirole air superiority fighter of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) crashed shortly after taking off from the HAL airstrip near the city, police said.

“It was piloted by Wing Commander Prashant Nair. He was accompanied by Squadron Leader L Biswal, Flight Test Engineer. Both ejected safely,” it said. Some labourers working in the field where the aircraft crashed, were injured after being hit by splinters and were admitted to the rural hospital at Pimpalgaon.

A top official involved with the aircraft production said the crashed Sukhoi was the first of the batch produced at the Aircraft Manufacturing Division at HAL Nashik this year. — PTI