PESHAWAR - Two pilots were martyred after a Pakistan Air Force training aircraft crashed during landing at the Peshawar air base on Tuesday.
According to a press release issued by the PAF here, the FT-7PG aircraft crashed during landing at the Peshawar air base while recovering from a routine operational training mission.
“Both the pilots embraced Shahadat (martyrdom) in the tragic incident,” the press release said.
A board of inquiry has been ordered by the air headquarters to determine the cause of the accident. An emergency was declared at the airport after the incident. The runway of the Bacha Khan Airport was later cleared for air traffic.
AFP adds: The F-7, a Chinese variant of the Russian MiG-21, has been in the Pakistan Air Force fleet for decades. It plans to replace the ageing jets by 2020 with JF-17s, which are co-produced with China.