On Thursday evening, at 5 pm, a MiG-29K trainer aircraft of the Indian navy after taking off from the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya crashed in the Arabian sea. One pilot was rescued while search operation for another, by air and surface unit is in progress.

An inquiry, as per a statement by Indian Navy, has been ordered to inspect the incident. This was the fourth crash associated with MiG-29K aircraft.

In February this year, a MiG-29K had crashed off the Goa coast. In November last year, a twin-seater MiG-29K had crashed due to a bird-hit after taking off from Goa Naval air base. At that time, both pilots had ejected safely. In January 2018, a MiG-29K had crashed as it changed direction off the runaway at the INS Hansa base in Goa, while the pilot escaped unharmed.

INS Vikramaditya had just completed phase 2 of the Malabar exercises engaging navies from US, Japan and Australia in the northern Arabian Sea. The exercises were centralized around the Vikramaditya Carrier Battle Group of the Indian Navy and Nimitz Carrier Strike Group of the US Navy. The two aircraft carriers, including other ships, submarines, and aircrafts of the participating navies were engaged in high-intensity naval operations over four days from November 17. These exercises had involved cross-deck flying operations and advanced air defence exercises by MIG-29K fighters and E2C Hawkeye from Nimitz.

The author is a student member of Amity center of Happiness