sudhir007
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Air chiefs MiG claim flies in face of facts - Indian Express
Air Chief Marshal N A K Browne raised many eyebrows when he said that young pilots were behind the recent MiG crashes in the country. An ageing fleet, the MiGs are often dubbed flying coffins for their crash record. While the Indian Air Force is obsessive about the secrecy of investigation into these crashes, an analysis of the 10 that have gone down over the past three years shows that only in two cases were pilots at the helm rookie flying officers, the others had all got well over 850 flying hours in their log books. Most of the crashes, in fact, were caused by technical defects and engine flame-outs strengthening fears that Indias MiG fleet, the first of whose aircraft was bought back in 1963, may have outlived its service life.
Recent data compiled by the IAF and shared with Air Headquarters too shows that pilot error is not the predominant cause of crashes. Analysing the causes behind 1,000 fighter crashes over the past several decades, the data attributes pilot error to 39 per cent of all crashes, saying technical faults are behind a slightly bigger number (39.5 per cent). Other crashes were attributed to bird hits (9 per cent), human error on ground (1.5 per cent) and faults in production by HAL (0.6 per cent).
December 3, 2011: MiG 21 Bison crashes near Sirsa in Haryana.
The pilot, who managed to eject safely, was Wing Commander J D Singh. Holding a Wing Commander rank means the officer has at least 1,200 hours of flying experience.
Air Chief Marshal N A K Browne raised many eyebrows when he said that young pilots were behind the recent MiG crashes in the country. An ageing fleet, the MiGs are often dubbed flying coffins for their crash record. While the Indian Air Force is obsessive about the secrecy of investigation into these crashes, an analysis of the 10 that have gone down over the past three years shows that only in two cases were pilots at the helm rookie flying officers, the others had all got well over 850 flying hours in their log books. Most of the crashes, in fact, were caused by technical defects and engine flame-outs strengthening fears that Indias MiG fleet, the first of whose aircraft was bought back in 1963, may have outlived its service life.
Recent data compiled by the IAF and shared with Air Headquarters too shows that pilot error is not the predominant cause of crashes. Analysing the causes behind 1,000 fighter crashes over the past several decades, the data attributes pilot error to 39 per cent of all crashes, saying technical faults are behind a slightly bigger number (39.5 per cent). Other crashes were attributed to bird hits (9 per cent), human error on ground (1.5 per cent) and faults in production by HAL (0.6 per cent).
December 3, 2011: MiG 21 Bison crashes near Sirsa in Haryana.
The pilot, who managed to eject safely, was Wing Commander J D Singh. Holding a Wing Commander rank means the officer has at least 1,200 hours of flying experience.
