PAF aircraft crashes during routine training, pilot safely ejects

Islamabad, Sep 15 A Pakistan Air Force (PAF) aircraft crashed near city Attock in Punjab province on Tuesday during a routine training mission, while the pilot ejected safely, an official statement said.

"The pilot ejected safely. No loss of life or property has been reported on ground," Dawn news quoted the PAF statement as saying.

The PAF said that a board of inquiry has been ordered to investigate the cause of the crash which is the fifth such incident since the start of this year.

In March, a PAF F-16 aircraft crashed near Shakarparian in Islamabad during rehearsals for the March 23 parade. Wing Commander Nauman Akram died in the crash.

A PAF trainer aircraft crashed on February 12 during a routine training mission near Takht Bhai in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Mardan district.

It was the third PAF training aircraft to have crashed while on a routine training mission in less than two months.

In the same month, a PAF Mirage aircraft, which was also on a routine operational training mission, had crashed near the Lahore-Multan Motorway.

Pilots in both cases had ejected safely.

( With inputs from IANS )