The Navhind Times (NT) has provided some interesting details of the
Christmas Eve morning Sea Harrier air crash at Dabolim. The Sea Harrier
crashed while returning from a routine sortie at the **eastern end** of the
Dabolim airport runway. Speaking exclusively to 'The Navhind Times', the
pilot of
Clearly the pilot is no plebe. At 38 years of age he is #2 in the
Harriersquadron at Dabolim. Seems like he was trying to trouble shoot the
verticallanding procedure which had resulted in an accident in similar
circumstancesin the multi-navy exercise in the Bay of Bengal in September
this year.
MSN version (extract): With Monday's crash, the total number of Sea Harriers
with the navy has come down to 13. Since 1983, seven pilots have died in 17
crashes involving the Sea Harrier. India inducted a fleet of 30 Sea Harriers
in 1983, using 25 of these for operational flying and the remaining
A single seater Sea Harrier crashed at Dabolim airport at 1115 hrs on
Christmas Eve while landing leading to the closure of the runway for at
least 3 hours. Pilot ejects safely.
PIB version:
At around 1115 hrs today 24 Dec 07, a single seater Sea Harrier fighter
aircraft crashed at Dabolim, Goa.
DNA version (extract): Navy fighter plane crashes, pilot safe.. This is the
fourth accident involving a Sea Harrier in the past one year. Earlier this
year, another Sea Harrier had crashed while landing on the Navy carrier INS
Viraat during a multi-nation naval exercice in the Bay of Bengal.
