IJT aircraft crashes for third time in 4 years

Bangalore: The Intermediate Jet Trainer (IJT), developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), suffered yet another setback as the prototype version of the aircraft crashed in Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu, after taking off from HAL Airport in Bangalore on Thursday afternoon.
The mishap, which is the third involving the IJT, occurred when the prototype aircraft S-3466 on a routine flight test crashed at Kelamangalam, near Lakshmipuram Village in Hosur taluk of Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu at 3.10 pm with both the pilots on-board ejecting safely.
The aircraft was piloted by group captain Mathur of the National Flight Test Centre and wing commander Patra of Air Force Technical College.
No loss of civilian life or property was reported when the aircraft crashed in a forest area.
HAL chairman, Ashok Nayak, said that during the test flight, the pilots may have performed an ‘unintended difficult’ manoeuvre “and could not recover from it due to which they lost control and ejected.”
HAL has constituted a court of inquiry, as is the case in such occurrences. The pilots were airlifted from the crash mishap site and directly taken to HAL Hospital in Bangalore to be kept under observation.
The flight data recorder of aircraft has been recovered by the search and rescue teams and the data is expected to be retrieved in a couple of days, said HAL officials.
29/04/11 Daily News & Analysis

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Categories: Safety Apr 2011