The Hindu : Another hawk down

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 06, 2002

Opinion

Opinion - Editorials

Another hawk down

IT WILL BE a while before the precise cause of the IAF plane crash at Jalandhar is known. But the tragic accident, which killed at least seven people after the aircraft ploughed into a commercial building block, has inevitably focussed attention on what has been long regarded as the backbone of the air force — the MiG-21. If the IAF's overall record with respect to plane crashes is dismal, the statistics when it comes to MiG-21 aircraft is appalling. Most of the 185 MiG aircraft that have had mishaps over the last decade are variants of the MiG-21 which, as a result, has earned the unfortunate sobriquet `flying coffin'. Such jibes may not be fair about an aircraft which was first inducted into the IAF four decades ago, which has played a pivotal role during wartime and which incredibly continues to remain a mainstay of the air force. But there are reasons to be seriously worried about India's ageing fleet of MiG-21s. They account for more than half the crashes that take place; according to one estimate, the IAF loses one MiG for every 2,500 flight hours, making it one of the most vulnerable aircraft in service with any air force in the world.

The frequency of MiG-21 crashes has gone up dramatically over the last few years. The Jalandhar accident is the fifth this year and it was only late last month that another of these single-seat multi-role fighters went down near a village along the Rajasthan-Haryana border. From the year 2000 onwards, about 25 MiG-21s have crashed in various parts of the country. Given that most of these aircraft are two-decades old, age is a problem — but it is by no means either the only or the most important one. The La Fontaine Committee, headed by the then Chief of the Air Staff, has stated that the frequent crashes are a result of three main causes: bird hits, pilot error and maintenance failures. Frequent pilot errors carry an inescapable conclusion — they point to the failure of the establishment to train pilots adequately. For years now, experts have pointed out that Indian fighter pilots, who receive their basic training on sub-sonic aircraft such as Kiran, have to make a qualitative jump when made to fly aircraft which travel at Mach 2 speeds such as MiG-21s. It is against this background that the delay in inducting advanced jet trainers (AJTs) — which were recommended for purchase almost two decades ago — must be viewed. The process of acquiring AJTs is now at an advanced stage and although they will not provide a one-stop solution for crashes, their acquisition will go a considerable way in redressing fundamental lacunae in the pilot training procedures.

As far as crashes go, there are other problems that need to be urgently addressed. Shabby maintenance is an important contributory cause, a related factor being the poor quality of spares. At another level, the manner in which the technical upgradation of the fighters has taken place has left much to be desired. Inexcusable delays in the refit, a massive project to upgrade the avionics and technical capabilities of MiG-21s, have compounded the problem. As an immediate response, the IAF has grounded the entire fleet of the MiG-21 variant which went down in Jalandhar, but what is really needed are lasting or durable solutions to a problem that has many dimensions. Crashes consume large sums of money, but they are not merely about the loss of expensive aircraft or about crores of rupees expended on training pilots going to waste. They are about inefficient and insensitive procedures which cause a serious loss of morale within the air force. Most of all, they are about a tragic and unpardonable loss of human lives.

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