IAF aircraft crashes at Ranchad village in Uttar Pradesh's Baghpat district; both pilots on-board eject safely

An Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft that took off from the Hindon airbase in Ghaziabad, crashed in Uttar Pradesh’s in Ranchad village in Baghpat, PTI said. According to reports, the two pilots on-board managed to eject safely. The crash took place at 9.45 am when the ML-130 aircraft took off from the Hindon airbase, Superintendent of Police Shailesh Kumar Pandey said. District Magistrate R Kumar said the plane nosedived.

The airport authorities have ordered a probe into the crash, reported India Today.  However, this is not the first crash reported this year. On 4 September, an IAF plane MiG-27 Fighter Jet crashed in an empty field in Dewliya village near Banad in Jodhpur, Rajasthan due to a technical snag. The pilot escaped unhurt. In June 2018, a MiG-21 fighter plane had crashed in Himachal Pradesh’s  Kangra  and the pilot was found dead. In November 2017, another IAF MiG-27 fighter plane’s tyre burst while landing, after which it got stuck on the runway at Jodhpur airport,  The Times of India  had reported. With inputs from PTI