An Indian Air Force MiG-21 crashed near Moga in Punjab in the wee hours of Friday, making it the third such incident this year, DefenseWorld reported.
The aircraft was on a routine training sortie when the accident happened. It crashed at Langiana Khurd village around 1 am.
IAF said the pilot, Sqn Ldr Abhinav Choudhary, sustained fatal injuries.
A court of inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the cause of the accident.
In March, a MiG-21 met with a fatal accident, killing the pilot. The aircraft crashed while taking off for a combat training mission at an airbase in central India.
Another MiG-21 crashed near Suratgarh in January in Rajasthan during a training sortie due to a technical malfunction. The pilot managed to eject safely.
The accident-prone MiG-21 fighters have been dubbed as "flying coffins” by some defense experts as they are living way past their initial service life.
HJ/PR