MiG-21 crash: Young newly married Pilot lost his life

Indian Air Force pilot Abhinav Chaudhary died on Friday after his MiG-21 fighter jet crashed into an open field at Langeana village of Punjab’s Moga district.

In Meerut, a wailing father clutched onto a wrinkled t-shirt belonging to his son. The t-shirt bears an Indian Military College insignia and for the father, this is the last of his memory. He was seated on the porch of his Ganganagar residence surrounded by neighbours and family members, who also wept in shock and disbelief. “This piece of clothing belongs to my son. I will wear this because this is all that remains. I lost my lion son. Everything is over, destroyed” said by Abhinav’s father.

Moga SP (HQ) Gurdeep Singh told, “His body was found 2 km away from the crash spot after an intense search of nearly four hours. His parachute was found open and an SOS was also sent from his device to IAF, but he had died by then. He tried to land safely using the parachute, but apparently broke his neck and spinal cord.”

Abhinav received his education in a Meerut school till class 7 and completed his further schooling in Dehradun thereafter. He developed a keen interest in the military at a young age and went on to pursue a course at Dehardun’s IMA. He was trained at the Air Force Academy in Hyderabad and was posted at the Pathankot base from 2014 onwards.

The squadron leader got married in December 2019, his family told. His wife, Sonika, recently returned from France after pursuing a course. Abhinav is survived by his father, who earlier worked at a local builder’s office. According to the family, Abhinav had urged his father to quit his job as he was confident he would be able to sustain the family financially. The pilot also has a sister, who is currently in the final year of her B-Tech course, while his mother is a homemaker.

The young fighter pilot was returning to the airbase when his MiG-21 apparently developed a technical snag and crashed. The IAF has ordered a court of inquiry to establish the exact reason behind the crash. This is the third MiG-21 ‘Bison’ crash this year, with the first taking place near Suratgarh in January.