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Fuel tank falls from Indian Navy’s MiG-29K fighter jet during take-off

Visakhapatam: On Monday morning, A Fuel Drop Box of supersonic fighter jet MiG-29K of Indian Navy jettisoned while the fighter plane was taking off from the Naval Air station INS Dega in Visakhapatnam.

Dega

A senior official of the Indian Navy said that when a fuel box of an MIG-29K jettisoned accidentally, a minor fire broke out on the runway of INS Dega while the MiG was taking off on a routine training sortie.

He added that immediate action taken by the ground support staff resulted in the quick quenching of the fire. No one has been injured and no damage has been sustained to the aircraft or the runway.

Now, the Indian Navy has ordered a probe into the incident.

An official of Eastern Naval Command said that before landing, the crew dropped another empty fuel tank. The empty fuel tank of the aircraft dropped in Malka puram area near the Naval Base. Each MiG aircraft has two fuel tanks, one on each wing. Before landing, the aircraft has to have equal weight on both wings. So the pilot of the aircraft dropped the empty fuel tank so that landing is safe.

A recent report by Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) was tabled in the Parliament last month. The report of CAG pointed out that MiG-29K faces operational insufficiency due to defects in engines, fly-by-wire system and air frame.

The naval airfield station, INS Dega at Vizag, will house the second squadron of supersonic fighter jets MiG-29K of Indian Navy.

The MiG-29K aircraft can fly in the sky at the maximum speed at 2000 km/hr. It is over twice that of sound.

The first MiG 29K squadron of Indian Navy – Black Panthers christened. Black Panthers is now stationed at Goa, India. The Black Panthers squadron was commissioned in the year 2013.

The Indian Navy started inducting MiG 29Ks from 2009. Now the Indian Navy has around 33 MiG and 12 more will be inducted in the coming years.

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