A MiG-23 Fighter plane crashed into the paddy fields in the Mahiyanwala Kalan village of Zira sub-division, 42 km from Ferozepur, this morning. The pilot, Flt. Lt. Nikhil Gupta, ejected safely and no other casualties were reported.The crash took place around 11.30 am. An eyewitness, Mintoo Bihari, said the plane first grazed the distributory canal situated near the Zira co-operative sugar mill, then shot up into the overhead wires, uprooting almost a dozen electricity poles, before crashing into a tubewell shed.Squadron Leader Naseer Ahmed of the Halwara airbase, who reached the spot on a helicopter along with a rescue team, said the plane was on a routine sortie and had taken off from the base around 11 am. The pilot was immediately whisked away and admitted to the Air Force hospital at Halwara.While a Court of Inquiry has been set up, Air Headquarters sources said officials are now looking at maintenance problems which could be responsible for the snags in the aircraft’s undercarriage. In fact, maintenance problems have been dogging the MiG series aircraft, including the upgraded versions of the MiG-21. Earlier this year, a MiG-21 Bison had crashed due to problems in its fuel assembly pump raising questions about the quality checks done while assembling the aircraft’s engines.A Russian team from MiG-MAPO, the original manufacturers of the Mikogayan aircraft, rushed to the MiG factory, Nashik, to help Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd to iron out problems.IAF sources say when the undercarriage fails to descend before landing, it is usually caused by poor maintenance. Details of the crash would only be available when the Court of Inquiry submits its report. The crash comes barely a few weeks after Air Chief Marshal S. Krishnaswamy called a press briefing to assert that the MiG series of aircraft was airworthy.
