IAF’s Tejas 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. The pilot was identified as Wing Commander Namansh Syal, who is in his mid-30s and hails from Himachal Pradesh, according to available accounts. 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, 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. “An IAF Tejas aircraft met with an accident during an aerial display at Dubai Air Show, today. The pilot sustained fatal injuries in the accident. “IAF deeply regrets the loss of life and stands firmly with the bereaved family in this time of grief. A court of inquiry is being constituted, to ascertain the cause of the accident,” the IAF said. Wing Commander Syal belonged to Kangra in Himachal Pradesh. Syal was in his mid-30s. His wife is also an IAF officer and his father too had worked in the force before retiring as a principal in the Education Department.