The MiG-27 had taken off from the Hashimara airbase on a routine sortie when it developed some technical snag, which led the pilot, Squadron Leader S Verma, to eject, at about 10.30 am. The jet, however, hit a building in Bhotputti village, causing casualties on the ground.
The MiG-27s, which once constituted the cutting-edge of India's strike capabilities, are now quite old and obsolete. Even earlier this year, the over 100 MiG-27 jets in IAF's combat fleet were grounded after one of them crashed in West Bengal on February 16.
Investigations into that crash have apparently shown that the reason was the "failure of low-pressure turbine blades'', which is not in the realm of day-to-day servicing and maintenance.
The MiG-27MLs were also hardly flown in 2005-2006 after it was found that their R-29 engines were causing a large number of accidents. Since then, the fighters have undergone an upgrade programme to enhance their combat potential.
Be that as it may, ageing MiG variants, which constitute the bulk of the combat fleet, shoddy maintenance and inadequate training to rookie pilots, have all contributed to the high crash rate in IAF over the years.
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.
...gob bless these ppl..
