<Clearly the pilot is no plebe. At 38 years of age he is #2 in the Harriersquadron at Dabolim. Seems like he was trying to trouble shoot the verticallanding procedure which had resulted in an accident in similar circumstancesin the multi-navy exercise in the Bay of Bengal in September this year. Thenit was at sea on the INS Viraat.
Fortunately the Dabolim attempt was made at the eastern end of the runway sothe crash didnt obstruct civilian traffic unduly. It is odd that the fueltank was full which confirms that he was working only on the verticallanding routine and not flying around much. In any event the Dabolim runway should not be used for vertical landings ifthey are still risky. If the remnants are not properly cleaned up afterwardsit could cause a civilian plane using the runway to crash.> On second thoughts, what was the pilot actually doing? Full tank, safe point on the runway, timely ejection etc etc. Seems suspiciously like what a crack test pilot might do. This was no routine flight 'training' sortie. Should Dabolim be used for 'testing' aircraft? I think not.
