2 IAF wing cmdrs killed in microlight crash in N- E

Two Indian Air Force pilots, both wing commanders, were killed as their microlight aircraft crashed soon after taking off from the Jorhat airbase on Thursday morning.

“Two pilots, Wg Cdr J. James and Wg Cdr D. Vats, sustained fatal injuries. A court of inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the cause of the accident,” an IAF press release said.

The microlight aircraft Virus SW 80, manufactured by Slovenia’s Pipistral, crashed near Darbar Chapori, a sand bar in the Brahmaputra, in Majuli riverine island near Jorhat around 12 noon. The crash site is accessible only by boat.

The aircraft, used by the IAF for environmental monitoring including missions to prevent bird hits and weather reconnaissance, was on a routine sortie.

Made of state- of- the- art composite materials, the aircraft is lightweight and known as one of the most robust and fastest aircraft ( 260 kmph) in its range with a capability to operate upto 15,000 feet altitude.

The pilots attempted an emergency landing but the aircraft crashed in a sand bar in the northern part of the district, Tezpur- based defence spokesman Lt. Col. Harshvardhan Pande said.

The IAF procured around 80 Slovenian- origin microlight aircraft about three years ago. With Thursday’s crash, the IAF has lost 11 pilots, 25 aircraft and four helicopters since 2014.