Navy grounds entire fleet of Kiran aircraft

The four Sagar Pawan aircraft in action minutes before one of the aircraft got crashed at Bowenpall on Wednesday. Photo: K. Ramesh Babu

In the wake of Wednesday’s crash in Hyderabad, the Indian Navy has grounded its entire fleet of Kiran aircraft.

The Navy has a fleet a 20 Kiran aircraft — 12 Mk I and eight Mk II aircraft — which are based in Goa.

“As per the standard operating procedure, the aircraft will not fly till the time they are cleared by the Board of Inquiry (BOI) looking into today’s mishap,” Navy officials said here.

They added that if the probe team found no problems with the aircraft, the fleet would be airborne soon.

A Kiran Mk II aircraft of Navy’s Goa-based Sagar Pawan Aerobatic Team (SPAT) on Wednesday crashed in Hyderabad while performing at the India Aviation Airshow there.