Bengaluru: A major disaster was averted on Thursday when two aircrafts performing acrobatic manoeuvres clipped each others wings at the Aero India 2015 airshow at the Yelahanka Airbase here.
Two aircrafts of the Red Bull acrobatic team scraped each other while performing a loop.
While the wings of the aircrafts suffered a minor damage both the daredevil pilots were safe, PIB confirmed in a tweet.
#AeroIndia2015 Both the pilots are safe but both aircraft suffered a minor damage (2/n)
— PIB India (@PIB_India) February 19, 2015
"Flying Bulls" from the Czech Republic were in middle of their stunt when this accident took place.
After the incident that took place at about 3 PM over the runway, both the aircrafts immediately landed back.
Precautionary checks were carried out and the airshow was resumed thereafter.
The required investigative procedures were being followed, Aero India sources said.
The investigation included a precautionary Foreign Object Removal (FOR) parade that was carried out on the runway and only after no debris was found did the airshow resume.
Soon after the incident Ministry of Defence issued a release throwing light on the entire turn-of-events —
"Two planes of the famous Red Bull acrobatic team, whilst performing a series of planned manoeuvres on 19 Feb 15, came into contact with each other wherein both the aircraft suffered minor damage. The incident took place at about 1500 hrs over the runway. Both the aircraft immediately landed back. Both pilots are safe. A precautionary Foreign Object Removal (FOR) parade was carried out on the runway following the incident. The airshow has resumed after the precautionary check.
The required investigative procedures are being followed."
Sitanshu Kar, official spokesperson of the Ministry of Defence, tweeted: "Flying Bulls aerobatic team suffered a mid-air collision at #Aero India 2015 today.(Pix: Rajiv Paul, DPR, MoD)"
Flying Bulls aerobatic team suffered a mid-air collision at #Aero India 2015 today.(Pix: Rajiv Paul, DPR, MoD)1/2n pic.twitter.com/KpYQHv2j49
— Sitanshu Kar (@SpokespersonMoD) February 19, 2015
One of the wings of the top plane is broken.(Pix: Rajib Paul, DPR, MoD)2/2n #AeroIndia2015 pic.twitter.com/ZyiVWeN9cp
— Sitanshu Kar (@SpokespersonMoD) February 19, 2015
