MiG-29 fighter aircraft crashes; pilot safe

A MiG-29 fighter aircraft on a routine sortie on Monday crashed near Lalparda village in Gujarat's Jamnagar district, with the pilot ejecting safely.

"A MiG-29 fighter jet today crashed at 1.30 pm near Lalparda village south of Khambhalia town," IAF officials said.

The aircraft was on on a routine sortie, they said.

"The pilot ejected safely when the plane crashed," they added.

IAF has ordered a court of inquiry in the matter, officials said, adding that their team is reaching the spot where the crash took place.

In August 2012, nine Air Force personnel, including five officers, on board two MI-17 helicopters were killed when two choppers of the Jamangar air base had collided mid-air shortly after take off.

This is the fourth crash of a fighter aircraft this year and the second one in this fiscal.

Recently, a MiG 21 Bison aircraft crashed near the Uttarlai air base near Barmer while a MiG 27 and a Su-30 each had crashed earlier this year.

India was one of the first international customers of the MiG 29s in the mid-80s.

More than 60 such aircraft are in the IAF fleet and are currently going under upgrades in a phased manner after India and Russia signed a deal worth over Rs 2,000 crore for their modernisation.