Pilot dies as Tejas fighter jet crashes at Dubai air show

THE PILOT OF a Tejas fighter jet of the Indian Air Force was killed on Friday after the indigenous multi-role Light Combat Aircraft crashed in a ball of fire during an aerial display at the Dubai Air Show.

- RESS TRUST OF INDIA

The pilot has been identified as Wing Commander Namansh Syal.

It was for the second time in 20 months that the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) manufactured by the state-run aerospace behemoth Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) was involved in a crash. The earlier accident occurred in Jaisalmer in Rajasthan in March last year but the pilot ejected safely.

As the crash inside the grounds of an airfield in Dubai cast a tragic shadow on an otherwise mega spectacle on the last day of the event in the desert city, visuals of the accident aired on TV channels showed the jet abruptly dropping height after what looked like a low-altitude manoeuvre and then nosedived into the ground in a matter of seconds before being engulfed in a ball of fire.

Black smoke billowed over the Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World Central, as horrified spectators, including women and children, seated at a grand stand area behind a fenced airstrip watched in shock.

The single-engine light weight aircraft crashed around 2:10 pm local time(3.40 pm IST) after the pilot had flown across the site of the prestigious air show in Dubai during the demonstration flight. The aerial display of Tejas was scheduled to last eight minutes.