New Delhi, December 04: The grounded Sukhoi fighter jet fleet is likely to get airborne again by Monday, senior IAF officers said today, adding that the aircraft crash on November 30 near Jaisalmer in Rajasthan was caused by a fire in its engine.
The precautionary checks on the Sukhoi fleet were in progress and it could be completed by Monday, when it would be cleared for flying again, they said.
After the mishap, the IAF had stopped flying the 100 Sukhoi aircraft in its fleet and had kept it on the ground to carry out checks.
“The crash, we have learnt during preliminary investigation, was caused by a fire in its engine. It (Sukhoi fleet) start flying again on Monday,” they said.
SU-30MKI, a Russian-origin aircraft made at the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited facility in India, is a twin-engine, twin-seater, air superiority fighter jet.
–Agencies