HAL Tejas crash at the Dubai Air Show 2025

Dubai Air Show, a Tejas jet of the Indian Air Force (IAF) crashed during a demonstration flight at the Al Maktoum International Airport, near Dubai

On 21 November 2025, during the final afternoon of the Dubai Air Show 2025 at Al Maktoum International Airport, a tragic accident befell the Indian Air Force (IAF) when a domestically-built HAL Tejas light combat aircraft plunged from the sky during a demonstration flight, killing the pilot. The aircraft, flying at low altitude as part of an aerobatic display, suddenly lost control — eyewitnesses noted that it appeared to fail to recover from a negative-G turn, then descended rapidly and impacted the ground in a ball of fire, sending thick black smoke billowing above the venue and causing shock among spectators.

The pilot has been identified as Wing Commander Namansh Syal, aged in his 30s and a member of the IAF, from Himachal Pradesh. In the aftermath, the IAF confirmed his tragic death, expressed its grief, and announced the constitution of a court of inquiry to determine the cause of the accident. Beyond the personal loss, the crash has rippled into broader concerns: the Tejas programme — central to India’s ambition for indigenous air-combat capability — now faces renewed scrutiny, both for its safety record and for its export and operational credibility. 

The Tejas aircraft, developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and inducted into the IAF after years of development, was on display as a symbol of India’s defence-manufacturing progress and future air-force backbone. Its participation at the Dubai Air Show was meant to underline India’s growing aerospace credentials on the global stage. The crash, however, has cast a shadow over that narrative: it marks only the second known accident for Tejas in its history, and the first to result in a fatality. 

What happened on that afternoon has been pieced together through videos, witness accounts, and early reporting. At roughly 2:10 pm local time, during the program’s aerial-display segment, the Tejas executed high-energy manoeuvres at low altitude. Sources report that the jet entered a negative-G turn or barrel-roll manoeuvre and was unable to recover in time given the limited altitude margin. The impact zone appears to be near the runway area at Al Maktoum airport, and the crash triggered emergency-response teams immediately; firefighting crews were seen working to extinguish flames and clear the wreckage.  Spectators, including families present for the air-show spectacle, were stunned by the abrupt turn of events. 

On a technical and strategic level, the crash raises multiple questions. First, the inherent risks of low-altitude aerobatics in a demonstration environment are now brought into sharp relief. Air shows by their nature push aircraft and pilots to high-stress manoeuvres for visuals and spectacle — often at the edge of performance envelopes. When margin for error is slim, even a small glitch in control, altitude or system performance can have catastrophic outcomes. Second, for a platform like the Tejas — whose reputation and future orders depend in part on its display and operational record — the timing is unfortunate. India’s defence-industrial complex and the IAF leadership will inevitably examine whether factors such as aircraft-system readiness, pilot training, environmental conditions (high humidity in Dubai), manageability of high-G/negative-G flight at low altitude, and display-profile risk management all played a role. Third, the incident may spur a review of how demonstration flights are planned and executed, especially when indigenous products are being showcased on the international stage; it places more weight on the need for rigorous pre-flight safety checks, robust escape/g-survival margins, alternative exit/evacuation probabilities, and clearer thresholds on manoeuvre-altitude combinations. As defence-analysts have already noted, this crash may trigger deeper introspection for the Tejas programme’s export ambitions and public-perception metrics.