A file picture of Suryakiran

New Delhi, Jan 21: A fighter pilot of Indian Air Force was killed today after his aircraft was suspected to have taken a bird-hit during a practice session for aerobatics.

Wing Commander R.S. Dhaliwal had joined the Suryakiran Aerobatics Team (SKAT), the IAF’s glamorous formation-flying outfit manned by some of its best fighter pilots. Dhaliwal had taken off from Bidar, where SKAT is based, and his Kiran Mark II aircraft crashed around 8.45 this morning into a field near the air force station.

Indian Air Force sources said a Court of Inquiry has been set up to investigate into the crash. But a preliminary report suggested that the aircraft sucked in a bird during a low-level sortie. The Kiran Mark II are subsonic jet aircraft that are operated by SKAT at the limits of their endurance, often in death defying stunts to the thrill of crowds.

SKAT pilots, drawn from the Mirage 2000, Mig 27, Mig 23 and Jaguar flying streams, are qualified flying instructors with at least 2000 hours of flying, 1000 of them on the Kirans. Pilots for SKAT are selected on the basis of their skills and ability and are easily among the best in the IAF. The IAF uses SKAT to mark important national celebrations and also attract youth to join the force.

The first crash involving the Suryakiran was in March 2006 when Wing Commander Dheeraj Bhatia and Squadron Leader Shailendra Singh were killed when the tail of one aircraft was reported to have hit another aircraft. The pair were flying-in for a mirror-image maneouvre.

Wing Commander Dhaliwal was said to be practising low-level aerobatics when his aircraft crashed. SKAT has 13 hand-picked fighter pilots currently led by Wing Commander Joy Thomas Kurien.