IAF trainer plane crashes in Chennai; pilot safe

An Indian Air Force Pilatus PC-7 Mk2 trainer aircraft that was on a routine training mission, crashed near Tambaram, in the Southern Indian city of Chennai, Friday, (14th Nov). The pilot ejected himself safely, said the statement from the defence spokesperson. A Court of Inquiry(COI) has been ordered to ascertain the cause. Pilatus is a Swiss-origin turboprop aircraft that is widely used for pilot training.

Indian Air Force's Flying Instructor's School(FIS) is based at Air Force StationTambaram, Chennai. The FIS istasked to impart training to experienced Armed forces pilots, and mould them into extremely skilled Qualified Flying Instructors. Qualified Flying Instructors are entrusted with the responsibility oftraining ab-initio pilots during Basic, Intermediate, Advanced flying Training, and moulding them into Air Warriors.

QFIs earn their badges after completing a 22-week course of rigorous training, which encompasses ten phases of flying training and over 200 hours of ground training. Officers belonging to the Indian Air Force, Indian Navy, Indian Army, Indian Coast Guard and friendly foreign countries undergo the QFI training course at Tambaram.

The role of Flying Instructors’ School is to produce competent Qualified Flying Instructors (QFIs) who, in addition to imparting ab-initio flying training, are capable of grooming other trainees to meet evolving operational requirements.