Assam: Two IAF pilots killed in Microlight aircraft crash
Two Indian Air Force pilots were killed when a microlight aircraft they were travelling in crashed in Assam's Majuli region on Thursday. The pilots were Wing Commander-rank officers.
The microlight aircraft crashed soon after it took off from the Jorhat air base on a routine sortie around noon, officials said.
The wreckage of the two-seater plane has been sighted and a court of inquiry ordered, the officials said in New Delhi.
Tezpur-based defence spokesperson Lt. Col. Harshvardhan Pande told PTI that the two pilots killed in the crash were identified as Wing Commander Jai Paul James and Wing Commander D Vats.
The pilots attempted an emergency landing but the aircraft crashed at a sand bar in the northern part of the district and went up in flames, the official said.
The
crash
took
place
at
Darbar
Chapori,
a
sand
bar
in
the
Brahmaputra,
where
there
is
no
human
habitation.
People
from
other
villages
of
the
district
spotted
the
aircraft
going
up
in
flames
and
informed
the
district
authorities.
IAF
personnel
from
the
10
Wing
Air
Force
Station
in
Jorhat
have
rushed
to
the
spot.
OneIndia News