Trainer jet goes off runway at B'lore air show

The Aero India show here was marred today when a jet trainer of Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) veered off the runway while taking off for a flight dispay but the pilot was not hurt.

The prototype version of the intermediate jet trainer (IJT) piloted by Wing Commander Baldev Singh went into a grassy patch of land near the runway at Yelahanka airbase, the venue for the air show, throwing up clouds of dust, this afternoon.

Indian Air Force (IAF) and HAL sources said preliminary information indicated that one of the IJT's tyres burst while it was taking off.

Fire tenders had reached the spot and Singh, a HAL test pilot, was safe, the sources said. The runway was closed for some time after the accident, the second mishap here involving a HAL-built aircraft in less than a week.

On February 2, a Dhruv advanced light helicopter of the IAF's Sarang aerobatic team plummeted to the ground while participating in practice ahead of the air show, killing co-pilot Squadron Leader Priye Sharma and seriously injuring pilot Wing Commander V Jetley.

The IJT flew yesterday at the inaugural ceremony of Aero India, a major aerospace and defence exposition in which some 500 companies from India and abroad are participating.

The IJT, which is designed to be used by the IAF for initial training of its fighter pilots, was developed by HAL and National Aerospace Laboratories. It is yet to enter full production.