‘29 aircraft, including 17 fighter jets meet with accidents’
Indian Air Force (IAF) saw 29 of its aircraft, including 17 fighter jets, meeting with accidents between 2016-17 to 2019-20, defence minister Rajnath Singh informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply.
In calendar year 2019, six fighter jets of the IAF met with accidents, including three MiG21, and one each of Jaguar, SU-30 MKI and MiG-27 UPG. Last year one transport aircraft An-32 and one trainer Hawk MK132
met with accident.
The AN-32 aircraft crashed in Arunachal Pradesh in June last year killing all 13 personnel on board.
The Russian AN-32 aircraft went missing 33 minutes after taking off from Assam's Jorhat on June 3, 2019. It was headed to Mechuka in Shi-Yomi district of Arunachal Pradesh. On June 11, the wreckage of the missing An-32 aircraft was found on a mountain slope in Arunachal Pradesh.
During 2016-17 to 2019-20 (upto 29 February, 2020), IAF saw 6 trainer aircraft accidents, 4 helicopter accidents and 2 transport aircraft accidents.
Q The Russian AN-32 aircraft went missing 33 minutes after taking off from Assam's Jorhat. It was headed to Mechuka in ShiYomi district of AP. On June 11, 2019, the wreckage of the missing An-32 aircraft was found.
In the 2016-17 fiscal, six IAF fighter jets, two helicopters, one trainer and one transport aircraft crashed. In 2017-18, the Air
Force lost two fighter jets and three trainer aircraft in crashes.
In 2018-19 , IAF lost seven fighter jets, two helicopters and two trainers.
IAF has taken a number of steps to decrease the number of aircraft accidents including Revised Training Methodology of the aircrew and technicians, said defence minister.
Under this stage-wise training of pilots has been implemented for enhancing the quality of training. Bird Hazard Management measures have also been revamped to suit the local conditions. In all incidents of bird strikes, the bird remnants are sent to Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences (DIPAS) for identifying the species and thus helping in taking species specific preventive measures to avoid further incidents.
The other measures instituted are studies undertaken by the Ornithology cell and close monitoring of bird activities.