An Indian Navy MiG-29K fighter crashed into the Arabian Sea on Thursday, and search and rescue teams recovered one of the pilots while the other remained missing even as efforts to locate him intensified, officials said. the Navy a day later A plane of Russian origin fell off the west coast of India.
The two-seat training plane crashed at 5 p.m. after taking off from the deck of India’s only aircraft carrier, INS Vikramaditya, officials said. Both pilots were ejected from the plane before it crashed, they added.
Thursday’s accident is the fourth accident involving the MiG-29K maritime fighter fleet.
Dozens of warships and planes are scouring the Arabian Sea to locate the missing pilot identified by the navy as Major Nishant Singh.
“A MiG-29K training aircraft operating at sea abandoned around 17:00 on November 26. One pilot (the trainee) has been recovered and the search by air and surface units is in progress for the second pilot, “Navy spokesman Commander Vivek Madhwal said on Friday. The navy has ordered an investigation into the accident.
While the cause of the accident has not yet been determined, India’s lead auditor had to point out some deficiencies in the deck-based fighter, including engine problems, aircraft structure problems, deficiencies in its fly- system. by-wire and low service capacity, in a report presented to Parliament four years ago.
The MiG-29K is plagued with problems related to the structure of the plane, the RD MK-33 engine and its fly-by-wire system, Controller and Auditor Generalsaid in the July 2016 report.
The CAG report revealed that the serviceability of the single-seater fighter ranged from an impressive 15.93% to 37.63%, while that of the two-seater trainer ranged from 21.3% to 47.14%.
The navy commissioned its first squad of MiG-29K fighters in Goa in May 2013, prior to the induction of INS Vikramaditya. India has purchased 45 MiG-29K fighters from Russia.
The navy plans to also deploy the fighters on the indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC) being built at the Cochin state shipyard.
The 44,500-ton Vikramaditya and its embarked MiG-29K fighters had participated in the recently concluded Malabar exercise involving the navies of India, the United States, Australia, and Japan.
The second phase of the exercise took place in the Arabian Sea from November 17-20.
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