Group Captain of IAF MiG-21 Bison dies after aircraft crashes

The accident took place when the aircraft was taking off for a combat training mission, the IAF said

A Group Captain of the Indian Air Force died on Wednesday when the Mig-21 Bison he was flying crashed near Gwalior.

“A MiG-21 Bison aircraft of IAF was involved in a fatal accident this morning while taking off for a combat training mission at an airbase in central India. The IAF lost Group Captain A Gupta in the accident,” an IAF spokesperson said.

A Court of Inquiry has been ordered to determine the cause of the accident.

The accident took place at around 10:50 am, the officials said.

The Soviet-origin Mig-21 Bison is an upgraded version of the Mig-21 aircraft that IAF began inducting in the 1960s. While the older generation MiG-21s have been phased out, the IAF still flies four squadrons of the upgraded MiG-21 Bis.

The IAF plans to fly these aircraft at least till 2025.

In January, another MiG-21 Bison crashed at Suratgarh in Rajasthan. Fortunately, the pilot was able to eject that time.

Months before the two accidents, Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal R K S Bhadauria flew a MiG-21 Bis at Suratgarh.

Incidentally, it was a MiG-21 Bison that was being flown by Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman in the dogfight with the Pakistan Air Force before his aircraft went down.

In June 2019, the Ministry of Defence informed the Parliament that 27 IAF aircraft have crashed since 2016.