| Pilot killed in MiG-27 crash |
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 NEW DELHI: In yet another crash in IAF, a MiG-27 fighter went down near Siliguri in West Bengal on Tuesday afternoon, killing the pilot, a squadron leader. The MiG-27 is a `swing wing' aircraft and the over 100 of them in IAF combat fleet were hardly flown in 2005-2006 after it was found that their R-29 engines were causing a large number of accidents. With the MiG-27 fleet undergoing an upgrade since then, IAF actually plans to operate these fighters well into the next decade, even though they are ageing, because they constitute an important element of its strike fleet.The number of IAF fighter squadrons, of course, is itself down to just 32-33 from even the `authorised strength' of 39.5 squadrons. IAF will achieve its desired squadron strength of 42 only after 2020. From 1971-72 to 2003-04, IAF's consolidated average rate stood at 1.09 accidents per 10,000 hours of flying, roughly translating into the loss of 23 aircraft and the death of 10-14 pilots every year. The crash rate did come down dramatically to around 0.27 accidents per 10,000 hours of flying, with an over 50% reduction in crashes after 2003-04. But the number of crashes seem to be going up once again now.
The aging MiG variants, which constitute the bulk of India's combat fleet, have, of course, been the main culprits. The `highly-demanding' MiG-21s, in particular, have a horrifying track-record. Of the 793 single-engined MiG-21s inducted into IAF since 1963, well over 330 have been lost in accidents. The problem has been compounded by shoddy maintenance, poor quality control of spares and inadequate training to rookie pilots.
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