Indian Air Force’s (IAD) trainee aircraft Kiran crashed near Hakimpet in Hyderabad yesterday. Fighter pilot Rashi Raina, however, escaped miraculously with minor bruises.

A team of IAF officials rushed to the spot after Rashi Raina called them up using the mobile-phone of one of the on-lookers who had gathered after the aircraft crashed into the land and caught fire. Hyderabad police commissioner V. Shiva Kumar said that the woman fighter pilot managed to escape as had self-eject herself moments before the plane crash-landed.

“Rashi was administered first-aid at Siddipet hospital for her leg injury and was later shifted to Hakimpet for further treatment,” he said added that the plane crashed on a open land few metres away from the national highway, thus averting a huge tragedy,” he said. In the meantime, the Ministry of Defence said that a Court of Inquiry (COI) had been ordered into the incident.

Despite frequent crashes, the ageing HJT 16 Kiran series of aircraft is being used by the IAF to train the fighter pilots. It may also be noted that the Comptroller & Auditor General of India had earlier recommended phasing out this fleet from the IAF.