Two Hawk advanced jet trainers of the Indian Air Force’s Surya Kiran aerobatics team collided on Tuesday during rehearsals, killing a pilot and exploding when it hit the ground in an upcoming residential area full of highrises outside the Yelahanka IAF Station.
Two other pilots were injured. Video footage captured by unidentified spectators show the two planes shooting through the sky before crashing into each other, spiralling down and falling in a space between passenger aircraft and highrises, smoke filling the area.
The Surya Kiran does not have any combat role but this is the second crash in the same month. On February 1, two IAF pilots died when a Mirage 2000 crashed at HAL Airport, some 30km from the Yelahanka base.
The aerobatics team was practising for the Aero India 2019 exhibition’s inaugural event, which was slated for Wednesday, when the two aircraft that were flying close to each other in a tricky manoeuvre apparently nicked each other and crashed around 11.50am.
An IAF soldier inspects the debris of one of the aircraft after the crash near the Yelahanka air base on Tuesday. (PTI)
The exhibition has been deferred by a day and the final call on the event would be taken after a preliminary probe.
The deceased pilot, identified as Sahil Gandhi, had been flying solo. Wing Commander V.T. Shelke and Squadron Leader T.J. Singh were in the other aircraft.
A passout of the National Defence Academy, Gandhi was a qualified flying instructor certified to pilot Sukhoi 30 and Mig21 fighter jets.
The injured pilots, Shelke and Singh, were taken to the Yelahanka air base and airlifted to the Command Hospital in Bangalore, 23km away. Singh underwent a surgery to correct a fractured leg. Shelke suffered minor injuries and some scans were done.
The residential area where the planes crashed is a semi-occupied cluster of highrises called Isro Akash Vihar Layout, 1km outside the rear boundary wall of the Yelahanka IAF Station. The exhibition, being held every two years since 1996, is scheduled to be held at the station.
The two planes crashed on two empty plots 500 metres apart and between some houses.
