Balakot hero ejects safely as MIG-21 jet goes down in MP
NEW DELHI: Had Group Captain Yeshpal Singh Negi not been piloting the MIG-21 fighter jet that crashed near Gwalior on Wednesday, the accident would have gone down as a statistic in the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) safety record.
Negi was involved in the planning of the cross-border air strikes against a terror camp in Pakistan’s Balakot on February 26, said two top IAF officers on the condition of anonymity. The air strikes against the Jaish-emohammed terror base were India’s response to the Pulwama suicide car bomb attack in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force men were killed on February 14.
Negi was decorated with Yudh Seva Medal on Independence Day for his role in planning the Balakot operation.
“He was the man who planned the Balakot air strikes as leader of the Command Air Tasking and Strike Planning for Aerial Warfare at the New Delhi-based Headquarters Western Air Command,” said one of the officers cited above.
Negi was on one of the two pilots flying the MIG-21 Type-69 trainer aircraft that crashed six nautical miles short of the Gwalior air base on Wednesday, said the second officer.
He is currently the commandant of the elite Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment.
“The aircraft was on a routine mission. Both pilots ejected safely and were picked up by a rescue helicopter. A court of inquiry has been ordered to investigate the cause of accident,” an IAF official said.