IAF Mig-21 crashes drastically reduced
A total number of 10 MiG 21 aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) have crashed during the last three financial years from 2004-05 to 2007-08 (till 13.8.2007). In these accidents a total number of 7 persons lost their lives.
Besides the loss of aircraft, compensation amounting to Rs.40,49,853/- has also been paid on account of service personnel /civilian killed / injured and loss to the civil property in these accidents.
Each aircraft accident in the IAF is investigated through a Court of Inquiry (CoI) and remedial measures as per the recommendations of the CoI are taken. Besides, a continuous and multifaceted effort is always underway to enhance and upgrade flight safety. Measures to enhance the quality of training to improve the skill levels, ability to exercise sound judgment and situational awareness of pilots are being pursued. Constant interaction with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), both indigenous and foreign, is also maintained to overcome the technical defects of aircraft. Besides, anti-bird measures are also undertaken.
Human error was determined to have caused major number of crashes. However the term “Human Error” has been misinterpreted as inferior pilot training in IAF. Human error is a broad term used for accidents caused due to pilots. It can include pilot pushing the aircraft beyond its prescribed limits. IAF is one of the handful of the forces which provides this luxury of experimentation. The brighter side of such freedom can be seen in real life when IAF exercised with various foreign air forces. The first Indo-US exercise “COPE India 04″, was an eye opener. USAF was on record saying ” “The outcome of the exercise boils down to [the fact that] they ran tactics that were more advanced than we expected,” Snowden says. “India had developed its own air tactics somewhat in a vacuum. They had done some training with the French that we knew about, but we did not expect them to be a very well-trained air force. That was silly.”
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