Technical snag brings down MiG, pilot safe

Express News Service Posted: May 24, 2008 at 0301 hrs
Kolkata, May 23 A MiG-21 fighter aircraft made an emergency landing at the Indian Air Force’s Bagdogra airbase in the early hours on Friday and within minutes, burst into flames.

The pilot, Squadron Leader Falguni Roy, had ejected safely after detecting a fault in the undercarriage, which prompted her to go for the belly landing.

The aircraft had taken off at 10 am from the Bagdogra airbase on a routine sortie. But it was back within half-an-hour.

The fire-fighters of the Indian Air Force doused the flames within 15 minutes and the runway was cleared for resumption of civilian flights.

The MiG-21 is the oldest fighter aircraft in Kolkata and given its history of crashes, it has acquired the sobriquet “flying coffins”.

Earlier this year, a MiG-27 crashed near the Air Force Station at Hashimara in West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district. An inquiry had been ordered into the accident.