By DPA,
Kuala Lumpur : A Malaysian air force training aircraft crashed Thursday during an air show, killing its pilot, news reports said.
The pilot with the Royal Malaysian Air Force had been manoeuvring the Pilatus PC-7 plane during an airshow at the Northern University of Malaysia in Kedah when the plane’s engine compartment exploded and caught fire, the Star newspaper said.
Thousands of students and their family members witnessed the pilot eject from the burning aircraft, which soon crashed just outside the university grounds, the report said.
However, the 33-year-old pilot did not survive the impact and his body, still strapped to his seat, was discovered some 10 metres away from the plane’s wreckage.
Police have confirmed that only one person was in the aircraft at the time of the incident.
Authorities have not commented on the cause of the crash, but air force officials were on site to investigate.
The air force uses the Pilatus PC-7 planes for training, but the aircraft is occasionally used for airshows.
In September last year, two pilots were killed when their Pilatus PC-7 crashed and burst into flames at the Langkawi International Airport in Kedah.
The air force has 30 of the Swiss-made PC-7 Mk I and eight of the older version of the PC-7 Mk II, the Star reported.