Indian Air Force training aircraft crashes in Uttar Pradesh, pilots escape unhurt

An Indian Air Force (IAF) training aircraft crashed in India’s northern Uttar Pradesh state, with both pilots emerging unharmed, police said.

On a routine sortie from Bamrauli air force station near Prayagraj, a Microlight aircraft faced a technical malfunction and was “safely force landed in an uninhabited area, ensuring no damage to civil life or property”, the Indian Air Force said on social media platform X.

“Both the pilots on board are safe,” it said, adding that a probe into the cause of the accident is underway.

Manish Shandilya, a local police officer, said the training aircraft “crashed after its engine developed a sudden technical snag,” reported The Press Trust of India.

“In Prayagraj, Deputy Commissioner of Police (City) Manish Shandilya said the aircraft was on a sortie towards Phaphamau and the Sangam area when its engine developed a technical snag,” The Hindu reported.

The report quoted him as saying that the pilots had executed a “controlled and safe landing in a pond”.

In November last year, an Indian fighter aircraft, the indigenously developed Tejas, had crashed during a demonstration flight at the Dubai Air Show.

Footage of the crash showed the fighter executing a low roll before crashing in flames about a mile (1.6 kilometres) from the show site. The IAF had confirmed the death of the pilot in the incident.

In July 2025, the IAF said two of its pilots were killed as a Jaguar fighter jet crashed near a village in Rajasthan’s Churu district. According to the IAF, the aircraft met with an accident during a routine training mission, with both pilots sustaining fatal injuries.