Tejas crashes at Dubai Air Show

[EnterTheVoid]

Horrific footage. Looks to be a fatality. 

[IndianRenegade]

Looks like the pilot is lost. Condolences to his loved ones, looks similar to the f16 crash in Poland a few months ago?

 

 

[singhvivek141]

4 minutes ago, EnterTheVoid said:

Horrific footage. Looks to be a fatality. 

Hope it's not a sabotage.
 

[EnterTheVoid]

Aerobatics and air shows are just notorious.

[IndianRenegade]

Looks like a there wasn’t enough altitude to perform that maneuver. 

 

 

[G_B_]

Om shanti...

 

 

[diga]

PIlot error or sabotage ? 

Om Shanti 

[putrevus]

Horrible news, RIP

[diga]

 

 

[Vickydev]

Thats just extremely low altitude to try something like that. 

[G_B_]

Lots of chinese kunglu and pakistanis having a field day...

[Lone Wolf]

RIP..

Stuff like this is not uncommon on airshows.. people should stop blaming HAL on this one.

F16, Gripen, J10c all have crashed on air shows..

[putrevus]

Why did seat not get ejected, every pilot knows it .

[Gollum]

Do our pilots have inadequate training? As sad as this incident is (Om Shanti to the deceased), we must look inwards, introspect, show some accountability, and fix our flaws. Throughout my childhood I have read news of MiGs falling from the skies like flies, even in recent past so many crashes of our brave and treasured pilots. If there is a pattern, maybe they are being set up to fail because of other reasons. 

Edited November 21, 2025 by Gollum

[G_B_]

48 minutes ago, Gollum said:

Do our pilots have inadequate training? As sad as this incident is (Om Shanti to the deceased), we must look inwards, introspect, show some accountability, and fix our flaws. Throughout my childhood I have read news of MiGs falling from the skies like flies, even in recent past so many crashes of our brave and treasured pilots. If there is a pattern, maybe they are being set up to fail because of other reasons. 

 

Pilot deaths have reduced as far as i know. 

 

No death in sindoor reported for etc

 

I think worth probing if issue with ejector seat. But pilot might have passed out during the loop.

[singhvivek141]

1 hour ago, Gollum said:

Do our pilots have inadequate training? As sad as this incident is (Om Shanti to the deceased), we must look inwards, introspect, show some accountability, and fix our flaws. Throughout my childhood I have read news of MiGs falling from the skies like flies, even in recent past so many crashes of our brave and treasured pilots. If there is a pattern, maybe they are being set up to fail because of other reasons. 

Don't think it's a training issue. The impact of gravitation on a human body is massive during the air shows, and an individual have to be absolutely in top shape of his health.
Fighter pilot training is one of the toughest, and IAF don't give even an inch of leeway during the training programs. But again, it's a game of chance and as many have mentioned, deaths during air shows isn't uncommon. Only thing perhaps we could have done is to have some type of altitude warning system (or auto pilot something) which can takeover the jet control if pilot loses it's consciousness. 

MiG21 were used by India for 60 frigging years, it was a second gen fighter jet with lot of moving parts and it was a beast of it's era. Can go supersonic in no time.
It was an interceptor, whose role was to pickup highspeed...stop the enemy plane and come back. We used it roughly for every role which you can think off.

[EnterTheVoid]

7 hours ago, Gollum said:

Do our pilots have inadequate training? As sad as this incident is (Om Shanti to the deceased), we must look inwards, introspect, show some accountability, and fix our flaws. Throughout my childhood I have read news of MiGs falling from the skies like flies, even in recent past so many crashes of our brave and treasured pilots. If there is a pattern, maybe they are being set up to fail because of other reasons. 

 

When do you aerobatics, you're playing with fire. Thats not just limited to fighter aircraft, that's the case with every aircraft.

 

You're pulling +/- Gs and have to make split second decisions to manage your altitude and speed. Throw into that, the weather conditions on the day - density/pressure altitude - and the loop you practised 1000 times before is not the same as the loop you're about to do.

 

I feel for the pilot. The LCA is India's indigenous aircraft and the pilot wanted to show off it's capabilities to the world. Unfortunately, one manoeuvre too low and we have the outcome we all saw. 

 

Om Shanti.

[jf1gp_1]

8 hours ago, Gollum said:

Do our pilots have inadequate training? As sad as this incident is (Om Shanti to the deceased), we must look inwards, introspect, show some accountability, and fix our flaws. Throughout my childhood I have read news of MiGs falling from the skies like flies, even in recent past so many crashes of our brave and treasured pilots. If there is a pattern, maybe they are being set up to fail because of other reasons. 

Our pilots are well trained. He was a wing commander so not for a sec will I doubt his skill or experience. Canopy to seat any thing could have gone wrong while ejection. Feel so sad for the family. 

[singhvivek141]

5 hours ago, jf1gp_1 said:

Our pilots are well trained. He was a wing commander so not for a sec will I doubt his skill or experience. Canopy to seat any thing could have gone wrong while ejection. Feel so sad for the family. 

Crap man, a wing commander.

Thats easily 8-10 years of experience...  thats one loss which is tough to get back.

 

Jets can be manufactured in a year or two. 

[EnterTheVoid]

30 minutes after the Tejas crash, the Dubai air show went on as normal.

 

Life is cheap in that part of the world. Another reason why I'd never go there.