An Indian Air Force pilot was killed after a MiG-21 Bison aircraft crashed in Punjab's Moga district on Friday morning, during a routine sortie from Suratgarh.
A senior IAF officer said that the incident took place around 1 a.m. The MiG-21 crashed at Langiana Khurd village of Baghapurana in Moga.
"There was an aircraft accident last night involving a Bison aircraft of the IAF in the western sector. The pilot, Sqn Ldr Abhinav Choudhary, sustained fatal injuries. IAF condoles the tragic loss and stands firmly with the bereaved family," the Air Force said.
"A Court of Inquiry (CoI) has been ordered to investigate the cause of the incident," officials said.
Though the exact cause of Friday's crash is still unknown, over the years MIG-21s have gained an ill-reputation for being unsafe and are at times referred to as 'flying coffins.
This was the third crash the IAF had suffered in 2021 involving a MIG-21 Bison.
In March, a Group Captain of the IAF was killed in an accident involving a MiG-21 aircraft at an airbase in central India. Group Captain A Gupta was killed in the accident. A court of inquiry was ordered to determine the cause of the accident.
In January, a MiG-21 aircraft of the Indian Air Force crashed near Suratgarh in Rajasthan. The pilot of the aircraft managed to eject safely from the aircraft.
2019 was probably the deadliest year for the IAF when it comes to MIG-21 when 13 aircraft had crashed, and 20 personnel were killed.
In 2019, September alone there were two crashes involving IAF MIG-21s.
Developed by the erstwhile USSR, the single-engine MiG-21 was inducted into the IAF in 1963, and despite its track record, has remained a key in the Air Force's armory all these years.
Before the induction of the British-origin Hawks, MiG-21s accounted for half of the total flying hours of the IAF.
It is also worth mentioning that Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was flying a MIG-21 when he took to the air on 27 February 2019 to intercept an intrusion by Pakistan Air Force in Jammu and Kashmir.
In the dogfight that followed, Abhinandan shot down a much advanced and modern F-16 before his own aircraft crashed inside POK.