MiG-21s served us well, will be phased out by 2014: Air Chief to NDTV
Published On: October 5, 2012 | Duration: 19 min, 58 sec
Tag Archives: MiGs
IAF working to phase out MiG-27 by 2017
New Delhi, October 2
Concerned over recurring problems in MiG-27 combat aircraft engines, Indian Air Force is planning to phase out these Russian-origin planes by 2017.
The IAF operates about 80 (four squadrons) of these aircraft in its fleet and due to the recurring problems in their engines, it had to ground all of them after a crash about two years ago. “We are planning to phase out the MiG-27s, of which around 80 are still in service, by the year 2017,” senior IAF officials told PTI here.
The IAF has deployed two squadrons each of the aircraft in Jodhpur in Rajasthan and Kalaikunda in West Bengal at present. About two years, a study was conducted to check the problems in the engines of the aircraft and it was found that the R-29s engines have developed some defect which was very difficult to be corrected, they said.
After the report, IAF took a considered decision about retiring these aircraft from operational service in a phased manner, the officials said.
“The first to be phased out would be the two squadrons based in Kalaikunda and then by 2017, the remaining two deployed in Jodhpur would also be on their way out of the force,” they said.
The squadrons based in Jodhpur had undergone upgrades at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited recently and that is why they have more life left in them, the officials said.
The IAF is also planning to phase out the crash-prone MiG-21 combat aircraft around the same timeframe. The MiG-23 fighter and bomber aircraft that were inducted in the 1980s have already been phased out. — PTI
On its way out
The IAF operates about 80 (four squadrons) of MiG-27 aircraft in its fleet
Due to recurring problems in its engines, it had to ground all MiG-27 after a crash about two years ago
It was found that the planes’ R-29s engines had developed a defect that was very difficult to be corrected
Indian Air Force lost half of MiG fighter jets in deadly crashes
Gautam Datt.
The tendency of MiG aircraft to come crashing down – right from the time it became the backbone of the Indian Air Force over four decades ago – earned the fighter jet epithets such as “flying coffin” and “widow-maker”.
On Wednesday, figures divulged by defence minister A.K. Antony in Parliament reinforced in numerical terms how the ageing Soviet-era fleet had shockingly been on a wing and a prayer for such a long period but still not grounded.
The Rajya Sabha was informed that over the past 40 years, India had lost more than half of its MiG combat fleet of 872 aircraft. The minister disclosed that “482 MiG aircraft accidents took place till April 19, 2012″.
Antony also revealed that these crashes led to the loss of precious lives of 171 pilots, 39 civilians and eight persons from other services. The minister went on to state that the cause of the accidents were “both human error and technical defects”.
The revelation in Parliament was damning enough to evoke an immediate response from experts. “The Indian Air Force has lost several talented pilots, senior and junior, thanks to the flying coffin that the MiGs are. It is very easy for officers on the ground conducting inquiries to blame pilots and the human element after each crash. But each IAF pilot puts his life at stake from day one,” a retired Wing Commander from Pune said.
Drawing a comparison with Pakistan, which is not exactly in the pink of health financially, another IAF officer said the neighbouring country does not have such a high incidence of young fighter pilots losing their lives as they have been flying more sophisticated fighter jets for years now. “Each time a MiG goes down, people talk of millions and billions of rupees getting lost, but there is no value for a pilot’s life,” the officer observed.
Notwithstanding such overwhelming evidence against its frontline fleet, the IAF was of the view that not much should be read into the numbers because MiGs were the only aircraft flown for most of the time. It also asserted that “serious efforts” had gone into bringing the crash rate considerably down.
Former vice chief of air staff Pranab Kumar Barbora said that while it was a fact that the IAF has lost many MiGs and quite a few pilots, the rate of accidents in the context of the number of flying hours had been reduced substantially. Air Marshal Barbora, who had flown a MiG-21 just before he retired in 2010, maintained that it was a fantastic aircraft even as its high landing speed (around 340 kmph for some variants) made it slightly tricky to handle. He said no aircraft was offered for flying in the IAF without any kind of serviceability.
Air Marshal (retd) T.S. Randhawa, who was the director general of inspection and safety, said the IAF dealt with accidents with utmost seriousness and a concerted all-round effort was being made to ensure that the crash rate came down. “The number of accidents doesn’t tell the real story,” he said.
MiG history
Click here to Enlarge
It, however, indicates the problem of shortage of aircraft. The IAF’s fighter fleet strength currently stands at 34 squadrons. According to the force’s calculations, the number will further dip to 31 in the coming years and it would not reach the desired levels of 42 squadrons before 2027.
This is essentially owing to delays in getting replacements for ageing planes. The parliamentary standing committee took note of these shortages in its recent report, highlighting the fact that the MiG fleet was “overstretched”.
The first MiG was bought by the country in 1966. Since then, the IAF has been flying various variants of the fighter jet. Different versions of the MiG-21 are still in service out of which the T-69/69B (trainer), T-75 (BIS) and (Bison), T-77 (Badal) and T-96 (Trishul) have been flying for more than 40 years.
While the IAF has grounded the MiG-23MF, MiG-23BN and MiG-25, the MiG-27 and 29 have still got more than 25 years of life.
The air force has already begun phasing out MiG-21s in batches and they would be out of service by the end of the decade. The MiG-27s will be phased out next and the MiG-29s are being upgraded. All these aircraft are stationed at frontline bases across the country – from Hashimara in the east to Jodhpur and Jaisalmer in the west.
The MiG-21 is a particularly difficult aircraft to manoeuvre because of its high-speed landing and restricted runway visibility owing to the canopy design. Since it is a single-engine aircraft, bird-hits tend to affect it more. Environmental factors peculiar to Indian conditions, too, impact the aircraft.
“As a senior pilot, I have trained several juniors on the MiGs and we have faced problems. But in keeping with the unwritten code of the armed forces, we could never point out shortcomings in the aircraft,” the retired Wing Commander said.
“It is an established fact that several young IAF pilots lost their lives because they were not willing to eject despite engine flameouts. Nobody ever cares about these factors as the super bosses have their own point to prove – that MiGs are very safe and airworthy,” another officer pointed out sarcastically.
It is difficult to calculate the cost of the entire MiG fleet since various versions of the jet have been bought over a period of 40 years. The latest variant, called Bison, is estimated to be worth Rs20 crore. The IAF has over 100 operational Bisons. Furthermore, the cost of upgrade of the MiG-29s alone will amount be around US $940 million.
via Indian Air Force lost half of MiG fighter jets in deadly crashes : North News – India Today.
One pilot dies in a MiG crash every 3 months in the Indian Air Force
171 pilots died in 40 years; 482 planes lost, Antony tells House.
Ajay Banerjee/TNS
New Delhi, May 2
Defence Minister AK Antony today said 171 pilots of the Indian Air Force died in crashes involving the Russian-origin MiG series of fighter planes in the past 41 years.
The Minister said the IAF had purchased 872 MiG aircraft of various types between 1966 and 1980. Out of these, 482 met with accidents between the financial year 1971-72 and April 19 2012, Antony told Parliament in a written reply today.
On an average, one pilot was killed in a MiG crash every three months. Besides the pilots, 39 civilians, eight service personnel and one aircrew member lost their lives in the crashes, Antony said. Causes of accidents were both human error and technical defects.
The shocking statistics come just two days after the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence slammed the Ministry of Defence (MoD). It had said that the fleet of IAF fighter planes was ageing and specifically mentioned the MiGs while asking for an immediate need to induct a fresh lot of planes. “The number of aircraft due for retirement after completion of their technical life far exceeds the rate of replacements,” the panel noted.
In the past decade, the IAF has been inducting the much-superior twin engine Sukhoi-30-MKI. It is now on the verge of getting a new set of 126 warplanes as part of the medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) deal.
For the IAF, “accident” is a broad term and mishaps are put in five different categories. These vary from accidents on the tarmac to full blown mid-air crashes. The deaths of pilots occurred in mid-air crashes and those of civilians due to falling debris, IAF officials explained to The Tribune.
Though Antony did not mention which of the MiG series aircrafts were involved in the most number of crashes, it is widely accepted in the IAF that maximum accidents involved the single engine MiG-21, first inducted during the early 1960s. The other jets of the series are MiG-23, MiG-25, MiG-27 and MiG-29.
The MiG-21 is often uncharitably referred as the “flying coffin” given its crash statistics and subsequent deaths. Barring the MiG-29 (now based at Adampur near Jalandhar) and the MiG-25 (now phased out), all others MiG series warplanes are single engine, making them more vulnerable.
In the past, the entire MiG-27 fleet was grounded following a couple of accidents in 2010. The MiG-29 is being upgraded with additional avionics among other aspects. The MiG-23 does not fly operationally.
The MiG-29 was the last to join the force in the late 1980s. These aircraft were inducted during the height of the Cold War and had created a flutter in those times.
flying coffin
n The MiG series aircraft was inducted into the IAF in the 1960s, beginning with the MiG-21
n The MiG-21 is often referred to as the “flying coffin” given its crash statistics and subsequent deaths
n Barring the MiG-29 (based at Adampur near Jalandhar) and the MiG-25 (now phased out), all other MiG series planes are single engine and hence, more vulnerable
Why do the MiG aeroplanes crash? Loss of billions of dollars!
“Oh so many MiG planes crash; what is the reason?”, ask many people? They further say,”Is it bad technology, lack of spares, lack of training or bad maintenance?”
Rather than answering the question straight, the Safety Specialist, a prudent man counter questions, “Why do thousands of people get killed every week in road accidents in the country? Why do every year the buses keep on falling into the ravines and valleys in the mountains? Why are we not able to stop these accidents from occurring on the Mother Earth? Why do so many people get electrocuted every day?”
Most of the accidents whether in air or on the road, in fact all accidents are preventable.
Safety is an attitude. Safety is a way of life.
If we all (also the organizations and the governments,) strengthen this attitude and adopt it as our way of life, accidents in all spheres will reduce. The best way will be to imbibe ‘safety values’ in our children at our homes and our schools. Let ‘Safety’ be taught in organizations, schools and colleges as a subject, not to the specialists alone but to all. Society will be able to reap the benefits of lesser number of accidents. Economies will suffer lesser losses in money-terms. We have lost more than 450 MiGs, more than what are left. Has anyone calculated the replacement cost of these avoidable losses? It may run into billions of dollars at the present rates. Not a small amount!
Safety needs to be rewarded also. Individuals who do their bit for the cause of safety and who have the courage to say ‘no’ to wrong things need to be specially recognized by the organizations. Such people are the friends of the organizations and the watch-dogs of safety. But the fact is people who speak their mind out rarely go up the hierarchies, whether civil or military.
Keeping this foregoing in mind, please read below:-
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120108/biz.htm#2
Aviation Notes
DGCA, a ‘paper tiger’
by KR Wadhwaney
The safety of people and property is of paramount concern in the civil aviation sector. This is a vital guideline to all airlines, flying on national and international routes, by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
Sadly, this all-important directive is not being adhered to by the airlines, national and private, in this country, where safety is being compromised by operators owing to feeble financial cushion and vulnerable physical well-being.
Bharat Bhushan, Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), needs to be complimented for undertaking
a financial audit of all domestic airlines.
He has made scathing report of majority of
airlines, scheduled and low-cost, highlighting that they are afflicted with major diseases.
A study reveals that the world-renowned manufacturers have done extremely well to provide ‘unbreakable and un-penetrative’ machinery, which functions robustly in all weather conditions. But safety has been at a discount in this country because most of the men are not as competent and proficient as the situation warrants. Also, many airports in this country continue to be mere air-strips instead of being well-developed flying hubs, equipped with sophisticated gadgets and parameters.
Much as one appreciates the DGCA’s initiative for ‘safety in air’ syndrome, the DGCA itself is plagued with corruption. If an independent audit of the DGCA is conducted, many dark skeletons will be found hidden in the cupboards of its office at Safdarjung. Apart from multiple instances of fudging of ages of pilots and technicians, there are several other incidents of wrongdoings buried in the office. While disciplining airlines, it is essential that the DGCA itself is subjected to audit by an independent committee.
Much before skies were opened in 1990 and merger was forced on two national airlines, there was a lot of discipline in airline trade because regulatory bodies were watchful. Then, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) was a regulatory body and not a ‘social’ outfit, as it is now. Similarly, before the HS Khola’s tenure began in the DGCA, there were strict checks on pilots, engineers and maintenance. Now, there is a virtual ‘jungle raj’. Pilots involved in major incidents go scot free because of their ‘contacts’. There is a continued slide in the functioning of the aviation sector as the DGCA has become a ‘paper tiger’.
Some airlines have gone on record saying that the situation is not as bleak as painted by the DGCA. They say that they are passing through difficult time but they have wherewithal to emerge out of turbulent weather.
Whatever the situation is, the DGCA has to set its own house in order before it hurls stones at others.
Comments:
Ramesh Upadhyay January 8, 2012
Sir, I feel the figures of loss of money due to MiG crashes has been underestimated.
If we take replacement cost at modest Rs 50 crores a piece, 476 MiGs will cost 23800 Crores which is more than 4.5 billion dollars.
MiG Crashes continue to bleed Indian Air Force
MiG-27
Image from http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~rajwar/pictures/planes/mig27_2.jpg
The air crashes of the MiG fighter planes continue to be the major cause of the attrition in the fourth largest Air Force of the world. MiGs are the largest part of the IAF’s inventory and hence show the maximum attrition numbers. The aircraft have been designed in Russia but many have been manufactured under licence in India by the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd at its Nasik Division.
Read the full story below:-
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20111206/nation.htm#
More MiG fighters lost in crashes than those remaining in service
Vijay Mohan/TNS 4
Chandigarh, December 5
The IAF has lost more MiG fighters in air crashes and accidents over the years than the number presently left remaining in service. The crash of a MiG-21 Bison aircraft near Sirsa in Haryana today has once again brought the focus on training and flight safety issues associated with the ageing fleet.
The latest report by Parliament’s Standing Committee on Defence, released in August, states that 476 MiG aircraft had met with accidents thus far, while the remaining fleet comprised 470 aircraft. Since the report was tabled, there have been four more crashes, including those of two MiG-21s, a MiG-29 and a Jaguar.
A written note on the subject by the Ministry of Defence states that a majority of accidents attributed to technical defects pertain to old-technology aircraft. Problems associated with vintage technology, especially aero-engines in MiG-21 and MiG-27, are more pronounced.
The MiG-21 is over 40 years old and the IAF is stated to be the only force flying this aircraft now. In the last decade, the MiG-21 Bis series aircraft were upgraded to the “Bison” configuration to extend their service life and operational capability.
The report also indicates that all may not be well with the technical aspects of the MiG-29 fleet either. The report quotes the Defence Secretary as saying, “Unfortunately, I must confess the Russians are extremely reluctant to share certain information. On the MiG-29 too, there have been instances in the past where we have to really come down heavily. We actually struggle to get the information. They are very secretive about what goes wrong with the machine.”
The IAF has lost more than a thousand fighters since 1970. Investigations into the cause of the accident are still underway in over 15 cases. In the past six years, the IAF has lost 46 aircraft, with 10 going down in 2009, eight in 2006 and 2008 and six in 2005, 2006 and 2010.
According to available information, 40.6 per cent accidents have been attributed to human error (39 per cent by air crew and 1.6 per cent by technical crew), 39.5 per cent to technical defect, nine per cent to bird-hit and 0.6 per cent to manufacturing/servicing by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.
In fact, Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne went on record recently saying that most accidents had taken place due to inexperience of pilots who were unable to control the aircraft during take-off or landing. He stressed upon the need for a basic trainer for the force. In the Parliamentary report, the MoD had also acknowledged that availability of a suitable trainer has been “an area of concern”.
The ministry’s note stated that there was need to modernise the IAF’s trainer fleet to meet the requirements of modern high-performance aircraft. This assumes significance in light of the IAF procuring 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft as well as upgrading its existing fleet to Russian and Western origin fighters.
The IAF has, in the recent past, introduced several measures including modifying the pilot’s training curriculum, reviewing flight safety audit mechanisms, improving airfield environment and developing training and management capsules.
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