According to the Indian Navy, “The pilot aborted take-off during a training sortie. During deceleration, the aircraft veered off the end of runway and caught fire. The pilot jettisoned the canopy and egressed the aircraft safely.”
Defense Minister Arackaparambil Kurian Antony will be on a three-day visit to Russia next week, but will not get a chance to witness the ambitious Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) flight demonstration due to scheduling problems.
The first sea trials of the INS Vikramaditya, the erstwhile Russian carrier, Admiral Gorshkov, have been postponed by five months. Russian website RUSNAVY.com reports that the sortie, which was earlier scheduled for the end of this year, is now being planned for May 2012.
