Young Air Force Pilots Sacrificed Their Lives To Save Hundreds From Mirage 2000 Crash On Friday

The two Indian Air Force (IAF) pilots who died yesterday while taking out the upgraded Mirage 2000 on an acceptance sortie at HAL Airport runway had very little time to chose between their lives and the lives of hundreds of others on the ground.

And both Squadron Leader Samir Abrol and Siddhartha Negi did what the soldiers of the Indian armed forces are known to do-to sacrifice themselves for the lives of the people.

Deccan Herald

The duo had microseconds to decide whether to fly an aircraft on fire or eject out. They could have ejected out at a higher altitude but it would have left the aircraft gaining height further and get crashed in area thickly populated area ahead of the runaway.

An IAF personnel told this to the Deccan Herald and locals who rushed the spots to save the pilots also attested to this fact that the duo saved many lives by sacrificing their own. The IAF official who was an eye witness to the whole accident saw the aircraft¡¯s tyre wobbling and come off and the metal edge hitting the runway.

The seconds before the take-off, the friction due to metal edge colliding to the road produced a spark of fire that soon enveloped the aircraft. The duo had sensed the trouble and had microseconds to take the call.

The duo made one final contact to the Air Traffic Control (ATC) and ejected out, aborting the take-off. They made one final contact with the Air Traffic Control (ATC) and ejected out, aborting take-off. But soon the thick smoke and soaring flames from the ascent and the parachutes were at the fire.

Within minutes, the two fell and one of them fell closer to the burning aircraft.

Within minutes, they descended, one of them falling extremely close to the burning aircraft. The two died later, succumbing to severe burns. But they saved many lives as just outside the HAL compound as there was a score of thickly populated places including schools. Outside the eastern end of the airport wall, the Kariymmana Agrahara Road was jam-packed with peak hour traffic and it would cause many deaths, had the aircraft crashed there.

The thickly populated area of Manjunatha Layout was just 500 metres away with three schools in close proximity. The duo pilots in order to save hundreds of other lives sacrificed their own and no amount of gratitude is enough to pay tribute to their courage.