Colombo, March 22 The crash of Sri Lankan Air Force's China-made K-8 trainer jet in the Wariyapola area on Friday has raised serious concerns about the safety and operational readiness of the remaining aircraft in service.
The incident took place during a training exercise with the Chief Training Instructor Pilot and the trainee pilot ejecting from the aircraft before the crash. Both are currently undergoing treatment at the Kurunegala Teaching Hospital, local media reported.
Air Marshal Bandu Edirisinghe, Commander of the Sri Lankan Air Force, has appointed a seven-member Special Investigation Committee to determine the cause of the accident.
However, no decision has been made on the remaining operational K-8 trainer jets following the crash, Sri Lanka’s leading newspaper Daily Mirror reported quoting sources.
The Sri Lankan Air Force has experienced multiple such incidents involving Chinese-manufactured trainer aircraft in the past few years.
On December 15, 2020, a PT-6 aircraft took off from China Bay Airport in Trincomalee and crashed near Kantale, resulting in the death of the trainee pilot. On August 7, 2023, another PT-6 crashed shortly after takeoff from the Trincomalee Air Force station, killing both the pilot and the flight engineer.
The single-engine Karakorum-8 (K-8) jet trainer is in service with several forces, including those of China, Egypt, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, and Sri Lanka.
In September 2018, a K-8 belonging to the Sudanese military crashed near the city of Omdurman, killing both pilots on board. The aircraft was on a training mission and crashed due to a sudden technical failure.
Another incident was reported from Bolivia's Cochabamba, where a K-8 training plane of the Bolivian Air Force crashed in a residential area in Sacaba, Cochabamba in March 2021.
In January 2025, a Pakistan Air Force PK-8 Mushshak crashed at the Pakistan Air Force Academy in Risalpur due to a technical malfunction, killing the pilot.
A K-8 of the Zimbabwean Air Force also crashed in Gweru on February 6 this year, with the sole pilot on board losing his life.
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