IAF’s MiG-21 Bison crashes in Barmer; 4th accident involving the jet in a year

• Spotlight on safety of India’s longest-serving fighter plane. IAF’s MIG-21 bison aircraft crashed in Rajasthan’s Barmer on August 25. The fighter aircraft crashed during a training sortie. However, the pilot ejected safely & no casualties were reported. The aircraft had experienced a technical malfunction after take-off. A court of enquiry has been ordered to find out the cause of the accident, IAF tweeted. "A MIG-21 that was on a training sortie crashed, pilot ejected safely," Barmer DM said. "No casualties have been reported," he added. This is the fourth accident in 2021 involving MIG-21 bison. In May, an IAF pilot was killed in a MIG-21 aircraft crash in Punjab. IAF operates 4 squadrons of MIG-21 bison aircraft, each squadron has 16-18 jets. Last of the upgraded MIG-21’s to be phased out in next three-four years.