IAF MiG-21 Crashes, Pilot Killed

An Indian Air Force MiG-21M Type 96 fighter crashed today in the Rajasthan desert, killing its pilot, Flying Officer M Suraj Pillai, 24. The aircraft took off from Nal air force base and crashed shortly after. A court of inquiry will investigate the reasons for the crash. R.I.P.

37 thoughts on “IAF MiG-21 Crashes, Pilot Killed”

  1. how many hours did it do… after the upgrade… before this happened???… Which batch of upgrade this bird… belong to… technical or pilot or natural(Bird hit)… did it went or even a missile strike… from unknown source…

  2. Why not speedily induct the Tejas Mark-1 itself before the Mark-II arrives. What's taking HAL This much time to start production?

  3. Dear Rahul, unfortunately the pilot was tragically killed in the crash. The name of the pilot would be released pending notification to next- of- kin.

    May God give peace and strength to the family of the pilot to deal with this tragedy.

  4. Oh no,RIP to the pilot.
    Some reports link the death to ejection related issues.Do all Migs have modern ejection seats?
    We have to de-induct the Migs ASAP.

  5. Dear Rahul, unfortunately the pilot was tragically killed in the crash. The name of the pilot would be released pending notification to next- of- kin.

    May God give peace and strength to the family of the pilot to deal with this tragedy.

  6. Mig 21 Crash
    It is sad that the pilot of Mig 21M, Type 96 (NATO Fishbed- J) jet fighter crashed during a routine sortie. The pilot's name has not been released yet. The jet was manufactured under licence by HAL starting in 1973. India flies 80+ jets of this variant, all are due to be phased out. The "M" designation stands for " Modernised."

    The MiG-21 is a single-engined supersonic jet fighter aircraft that India first acquired in 1961from the Soviet Union. Worldwide over 11000 Mig 21s have been produced and flown by over 50 countries at one time or another. It was India's first supersonic jet fighter. with approx. 910 Mig 21s in various variants have admirably served the IAF until now. The last version being Mig 21 Bison (126) , due to be retired by 2018 Over 683 Mig 21s were produced under licence in India by HAL. The jet has been produced in many variants, starting with Mig 21FL, Mig 21 M , bis and finally the Bison standard and has served India well. India has lost more than 330 Mig 21s in non-combat related losses since the jet was acquired in 1961. More than 100 pilots have lost their lives in these incidents.

    More than 90% of the crashed jets were HAL manufactured and maintained with sub standard local parts. Lack of advanced jet trainer (AJT) for over two decades played a great deal, as Mig 21 is an unforgiving high performance jet that was used in the level III trainf. slated to be completely phased out in the next decade as India inducts LCA Tejas, which is a Mig 21++ capability aircraft per just retired Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal P. V. Naik. and the Eurofighter Typhoon.

  7. i am very sorry for the pilot, i dontknow when will this pathatic goverment will start inducting new aircrafts i think when entire
    airforce will go on strike!

  8. The Mig21M Project 96 is due to be phased out starting next year. There have been issues with the ejection seat and canopy not separating in time. Do not know if that is the cause. Board of inquiry has been ordered.

  9. Sad & distressing , I hope & pray that the future pilots of our country to live long and serve our country with honor & pride

  10. Well ACM Naik called Tejas a Mig 21++ and was dissing it. Now what does he call this relic of 1960s. The stupidity of our MoD and senior officers is the cause of this death, obviously no one will ever be punished and we will keep sending our brave men to die an untimely death.

  11. This is should be a wake up call to the MODs and the others that we need to pick up the pace for the accusation of LCA and start working on the AMCA. How long are we going to ignore the fact that these air-crafts are too old and have done their duty and should be retired. How many more brave men should die before the government opens their eyes.

  12. The MiG-21 is a great aircraft. Therefore,its either bad training or poor maintenance which would cause our aircraft to crash. Hopefully, a few hours of training on IJT should significantly minimize crashes due to pilot error.

  13. crashed crashed crashed……nd rip mr.suraj pillai…this is all that everyone has to say…
    but the pain..is so intense nd we r to bear it…
    but y did god be so cruel o our dear brother?….
    my cousin.. he was the best….nd why was he called out so early?….
    god.. u shd give us the strenght to overcome this…..
    nd more strength to his mother.. our aunty.. to bear this….
    coz nothing can replace her pain….god …help us…

  14. Tejas delayed bcoz Bloody baboos & politicians want to keep all under thr command , haramkhor sab malai kate hai aur yaha log jaan khote hai. , tht s th main prblm. They intentionally stopping private sector & MSMEs to enter defence production. All research establishments must be under direct command of Armed forces. r thr command , haramkhor sab malai kate hai aur yaha log jaan khote hai. , tht s th main prblm. They intentionally stopping private sector & MSMEs to enter defence production. All research establishments must be under direct command of Armed forces.

  15. Anon @ 3:55 PM:

    You mean to say once all the defence industries are under direct command of armed forces, there will be no more corruption! Wrong!!! Armed Forces are ridden with corruption.

  16. Is this the govt's new policy to phase out obsolete aircraft?, riding poor pilots on flying coffins and killing them…

    This government will never look at the dead soldiers, pilots or their relatives than looking for a new project for looting money….

    Doubtful how many families of dead or killed are getting honours or aid from govt..

  17. Guys, you might need to know this. The first time this pilot took off his mother fainted seeing his fighter soaring into the sky. He is a relatively new pilot and has been a training sortie. MIg-21 is an unforgiving aircraft and its landing approach is quicker than others. This plane doesnt have any new guidance system like the new generation aircraft.. please correct me if i am wrng… God bless the soul of a another gr8 indian…

  18. As has been mentioned before, this is all the fault of our lazy, lethargic, corrupt and incompetent PMO, Ministry of Defence and Defence PSUs who have kept vital defence deals pending for years and years without regard for the lives of our soldiers who use obsolete and expired equipment, risking their lives day after day.

    Antony and his corrupt, retarded cronies should be booked for death by negligence and thrown in jail. Had they approved the original IAF request for purchasing 120 Mirage-2000s in 2005 these old MiG jets would already have been replaced by now. Instead our poor pilots have to pray to God and wait another decade for Antony and HAL to get off their lazy Socialist asses and give them new planes to fly.

    Expect many, many, many more crashes by the time MMRCA is finally inducted(which, given HAL's track record, won't happen till 2020).

  19. highly unfortunate. after board of enquiry only can be decided whether it was a machine error or mind error. Blaming is the most easy job one can do, but why not people come forward n act to prevent this accident. everywhere accident can happen,whether is is road or rail or water but why only air machines to be blamed? after taking life of machine in 4 decades why you expect it to perform without any risk with same safety.

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