A Pakistan Air Force (PAF) training plane on Wednesday made an emergency landing in the fields near Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Mardan after facing issues mid-flight, the PAF said.

Both pilots present in the plane — a Super Mushshak training aircraft —survived the crash-landing, the PAF said in a statement.

It added that a board of inquiry would be constituted to investigate the incident.

In March 2022, two pilots lost their lives when their trainer aircraft crashed on the outskirts of Peshawar.

In February 2020, a Mushshak aircraft — separate from the Super Mushshak model — crashed in the Mardan district as well while on a routine training mission. The pilot had ejected safely before the plane crashed.

The aircraft

The Super Mushshak aircraft is an advanced variant of the Mushshak basic trainer and basic flight training is provided on the aircraft for aspiring pilots.

The training aircraft has a service ceiling of 22,000 feet, and a maximum speed of 268 kilometres per hour. The range of the aircraft is reported at 814km.

It had also been upgraded in 2017 to make it compatible with counter-insurgency operations by integrating it with a new glass cockpit and reconnaissance capabilities

The plane is already in service with Saudi Arabia, Oman, Iran and South Africa. Nigeria bought the aircraft in early 2016, Qatar in June 2016, Turkiye bought 52 of them in May 2017 and Azerbaijan in July 2017.

Pakistan was also set to export 40 Super Mushshak aircraft to Turkiye in cooperation between the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex Kamra and their Turkish counterparts.