Date:02/09/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/09/02/stories/2008090256821300.htm

National

IAF fighter crashes in sea

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: A MiG-29 fighter of the Indian Air Force crashed in the Arabian Sea on Monday but the pilot ejected safely.

The Navy has pressed its divers from its Valsura training base in Gujarat to retrieve the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the wreckage, which is believed to be in shallow waters.

The suspected cause of crash is a bird hit because the plane, which took off from the Jamnagar air force base, got airborne at 11.50 a.m. — at the fag end of the “green period” when bird activity is low.

This is the six IAF crash this year, but pilots in most of the incidents have ejected safely and in one case the pilot has been rescued.