IAF Sukhoi-30 MKI fails to take off after emergency landing in Dehradun Airport

The Indian Air Force Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jet that had to make emergency landing at Dehradun’s Jolly Grant Airport on Monday due to technical snag has failed to take off on Tuesday.

According to an Airport Authority official, a team of Indian Air Force (IAF) engineers has been working to plug the snag and it’s likely to return on Wednesday.

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The IAF Sukhoi fighter jet had to make an emergency landing after taking off from Bareilly base station due to leakage of fuel from one of its engines. According to the officials at the Jolly Grant Airport, as oil leakage started from the aircraft’s engines during the flight the pilot quickly assessed the risk and decided to make land and sent a message to the Jolly Grant Airport authorities.

Golly Grant Airport Director BCH Negi told The Statesman, “We received the message of IAF Sukhoi-30 emergency landing on Monday afternoon owing to some technical snag. However, I don’t know the exact issue behind the emergency landing. The IAF experts and engineers have been working to repair it since Monday. It seems work is done and the aircraft will fly back tomorrow and it could fly in the night.”

According to the airport director of the IAF, the aircraft was stationed at a safe place within a short distance from the terminal, in front of the VIP guest house after its landing. Following the arrival of a team of engineers from Bareilly, work began to fix the technical fault developed by the fighter aircraft.

What is noteworthy is that the Jolly Grant Airport has been able to facilitate landing and takeoff of the IAF fighter aircraft for nearly seven years. The first flight of a Sukhoi jet took off from here in April 2018 and the exercise continued for a few days to ensure full viability of the airport to host fighter aircrafts IAF. However, this is the first time that a Sukhoi fighter aircraft made an emergency landing at the Dehradun airport owing to technical malfunction.