2012-02-09 (China Military News cited from firstpost.com) -- A China-made Pakistan Air Force jet today crashed while on a routine training mission in southwestern Balochistan province, killing the pilot.
“A F-7PG PAF fighter aircraft, while on a routine training mission, crashed 24 nautical miles north of Quetta (the capital of Balochistan),” a PAF statement said. The pilot was killed in the crash, the statement said.
“No loss to civilian life or property on ground has been reported,” it added. The PAF ordered an official inquiry to determine the cause of the accident.
The Chinese-made aircraft came down near Pishin, 50 km from Quetta, shortly after taking off from an airbase, TV news channels reported. This was the fourth air force jet to crash in three months, media reports said.
Two pilots were killed in recent accidents and a helicopter crash in June last year killed four military personnel.
The PAF has a large fleet of Chinese aircraft, including F-7PGs and A-5s. It also operates US-made F-16s and French Mirage jets. It recently inducted the JF-7 Thunder jet which was jointly developed by China and Pakistan.
February 9th, 2012 at 11:49 am
I hope and pray that the four crashes are due to other means than besides mechanical failure or design flaws. If the crashes are due to design flaws then Pakistan will start blaming China for the failures of the aircraft. 9 out of 10 times a crash is due to mechanical failures; some mechanic leaves a tool or something inside the jet is not secured and it gets ingested into the engine or something out on the airfield gets ingested into the engine upon take off. If these crashes are attributed to mechanical failures then the Pakistanis Air Force needs to start looking at their maintenance practices and standard operational procedures.
Once the investigation comes out then we will know what has caused this crash and unfortunate deaths of these pilots and crew members. Has anything else come out about the other crashes so far?
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February 9th, 2012 at 6:37 pm
Randall, Not sure how old that last one was built but the F7-PG is a Chinese modified version of the Soviet Era Mig-21,so they've been flying them for quite awhile now. By American standards, it's considered a third generation fighter, so it's no spring chicken, with an ageing airframe and engine, anything can happen,unfortunately it cost a pilots life, may he rest in peace. I think they are slowly being phased out and replaced with fourth generation JF-17 fighters built in Pakistan.
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February 9th, 2012 at 8:10 pm
India has also had a lot of problems with their Mig-21s. Don't think they were ever intended to last this long or fly this much.
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February 10th, 2012 at 7:01 am
I think there's no problem with soviet planes, but indeed with muslim pilots (no chinese got problems with j7). Looks like they're wishing to die. No pilot want to die, other than the muslim pilots
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