A fighter pilot, victim of an MiG-21 crash, has come knocking at the doors of justice to phase out the aircraft and declare it obsolete.
Aircraft accident rates point to the fact that the IAF has among the worst accident rates compared to any modern air force in the world. In other words, the IAF has lost a big chunk of its aircraft inventory since Independence. We can ascribe reasons to explain a few accidents and their causes, but issues like material failure and poor machine performance cannot be supported. Since 1963, MiG-21s alone have accounted for almost 200 aircraft, and close to 100 pilots have lost their lives and it is very distressing that a few of these MiG-21s and their pilots are still missing and the IAF has no clue. In this regard, the IAF’s track record is worse than that of the Indian Railways.
The spate of MiG-21 crashes is yet another grim pointer to the unacceptably high accident rate of the IAF. How many more crashes will it take before the defence ministry and the IAF top brass realise that drastic corrective action is needed? The toll already had crossed 350. Category I accidents are those, in which the aircraft is a total write-off. While courts of enquiry will go into the reasons, the crashes have left the air force shell-shocked. The only saving grace is that in a few of the cases, the lucky pilots ejected to safety. But it is also seen that almost 50 per cent of these pilots have become medically unfit to fly because of injuries.
19/07/13 J A Khan/Free Press Journal
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Aircraft accident rates point to the fact that the IAF has among the worst accident rates compared to any modern air force in the world. In other words, the IAF has lost a big chunk of its aircraft inventory since Independence. We can ascribe reasons to explain a few accidents and their causes, but issues like material failure and poor machine performance cannot be supported. Since 1963, MiG-21s alone have accounted for almost 200 aircraft, and close to 100 pilots have lost their lives and it is very distressing that a few of these MiG-21s and their pilots are still missing and the IAF has no clue. In this regard, the IAF’s track record is worse than that of the Indian Railways.
The spate of MiG-21 crashes is yet another grim pointer to the unacceptably high accident rate of the IAF. How many more crashes will it take before the defence ministry and the IAF top brass realise that drastic corrective action is needed? The toll already had crossed 350. Category I accidents are those, in which the aircraft is a total write-off. While courts of enquiry will go into the reasons, the crashes have left the air force shell-shocked. The only saving grace is that in a few of the cases, the lucky pilots ejected to safety. But it is also seen that almost 50 per cent of these pilots have become medically unfit to fly because of injuries.
19/07/13 J A Khan/Free Press Journal
