Bad weather hits search ops for IAF's missing Sukhoi jet

Helicopters and aircraft were pressed into service today by the Indian Air Force to search for the Sukhoi fighter jet that went missing with two pilots onboard over Tezpur in Assam, but bad weather affected the operation.
The IAF said the search operation was continuing despite overcast sky and spells of rains and thundershowers in parts of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh where the SU-30 MKI plane is suspected to have crashed. The aircraft went missing yesterday.
An IAF spokesperson said in New Delhi that a Su-30 aircraft with recce capability is also being utilised for locating the missing plane.
Apart from the aerial assets, four groups of IAF personnel, nine parties of the Indian Army and two teams from the state administration have been deployed to look for the fighter jet.

"Search and rescue operations resumed at daybreak today. A C-130 transport aircraft with electro-optical payload, an advanced light helicopter and Chetak helicopters of the IAF have been tasked for this mission," IAF spokesperson Wing Commander Anupam Banerjee said.
He, however, said "marginal weather" (adverse to a military operation) prevailing over the area being searched, is hampering the operation.

The Sukhoi jet went missing after taking off from Tezpur Air Force station at 10:30 am yesterday. The plane, which was part of a two-aircraft formation, was on a routine training sortie and had lost radar and radio contact around 60 km northeast of the airbase.

"Till now, no breakthrough has been made in locating the aircraft and its pilots," the IAF spokesperson said.
A massive search operation was launched to trace the plane and the pilots, aged between 25 and 30, according to Lt. Col. Sombit Ghosh, the spokesperson of the Army's IV Corps.
Sonitpur district Deputy Commissioner Manoj Kumar Deka said the Tezpur airbase was continuously in touch with the district administration.
The search was also being conducted in West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh, he said.
The last contact with the plane was made by the IAF's Tezpur air control at around 11.10 am yesterday when it it was flying over Dubia in Gohpur sub-division of Biswanath district, adjacent to Sonitpur.

The first batch of the Russia-made fighter jet was inducted by the IAF in the late 1990s. Since their induction, seven crashes have taken place.
The country's frontline SU-30 MKI aircraft were deployed in the Tezpur airbase on June 15, 2009 for guarding the Sino- India frontier in Arunachal Pradesh.
At present, two squadrons comprising around 36 aircraft are deployed at Tezpur.