Jaguar crash (Thursday)

[tvpilot]

Jaguar crash kills pilot


Published : February 27, 2004

A Jaguar fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force on Thursday crashed about 45 km from Jaisalmer, killing the pilot, Wing Commander Ravi Khanna. This is the second accident involving a fighter plane near Pokhran this month.
The aircraft, which took off from Jaisalmer air station on a regular sortie exercise, crashed at around 9.30 am in the field firing range.

There was no civilian casualty or damage to property on the ground, police said

[Paracab]

Is anyone able to compare Indian maintenance and training with British equivalent on the Jag?

On the same note is anyone aware of the British safety record concerning the Jaguar ?

BTW I'm no journo, just interested as my folks recently moved to a village very near to Coltishall.

[Aileron Roll]

I worked with afew ex Indian Air Force Instructors a while back, all had flown Mig21, Jaguar, Hunter, and some of them the Mig 29

NOTHING wrong with these guys flying............

[L J R]

Aileron Roll,

I respect your opinion, but I have heard and seen different.

The IAF has in the past sought external advice on its alarming accident rate.

[Fox3snapshot]

Poor engine reliability and lack of a suitable lead in fighter have been contributing factors, hopefully the new Hawks will help alleviate this deficiency. Very sadly this has been very costly life wise and equipment wise.

Some figures for you on aircraft losses suffered by the IAF since the mid 60's:

MiG-21 315
MiG-23 23
MiG-25 04
MiG-27 21
MiG-29 07
Jaguar 23
Mirage 2000 03

Whilst these figures are reasonably accurate, they are not necessarily government figures and will of course be contested in some cases. War losses are included as well so this must be taken into account.

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[Synthetic]

I have worked with Indians in the past (on sims, not aircraft) and they have always been methodical, attentive and keen and able to learn. On the other hand, they have been stimied by lack of resources or funds.

[Pontius Navigator]

The losses are obvious significant. Anyone care to put fleet numbers against the losses so a loss rate is apparent?

I was in India and a friend told me of a friend of his who banged out of a Mig29. Seat worked as advertised, engin didn't. He got MDC splatter and lost the sight of one eye and almost the other. One p*ss*d of ace. Would have prefered F16s.

[Jackonicko]

Indian flight safety stats are a can of worms.

Fleet size is obviously significant, but utilisation and role are arguably more so. Moreover, accidents involving senior and experienced chaps are mercifully rare, while the young, in experienced chaps have a disproportionately high accident rate.

Since the retirement of the Hunter from the training role, IAF pilots go straight from the Kiran II or Iskra to the MiG-21, which serves in an advanced/tactical weapons/pre-OCU training role. There are insufficient MiG-21 twin-stickers, and the single seat trainers are India's oldest MiG-21s - with the most problems and the trickiest handling characteristics, and with a bewildering number of instrument panel layout variations. Few of the available twin-stick MiG-21s have much commonality with the training MiG-21 single-seaters. In recent years some pilots have been sent straight from the Kiran (a kind of local JP clone) to the Jag and Mirage squadrons, just to avoid the slaughter at Tezpur!

There are no separate, dedicated OCUs as we know them.

But, just to please you:

The IAF received about 800 MiG-21s, with a peak strength of 20 squadrons, + MOFTU. About 15 squadrons remain active.

The IAF received 40 MiG-23MF fighters and 80 MiG-23BN fighter bombers (two and six squadrons). Three squadrons of MiG-23BNs remain active, and one MiG-23MF unit operates in the target facilities role.

The IAF received 165 locally built MiG-27s, which equip seven squadrons.

A small number of two-seat MiG-23s are scattered among the 23MF, 23BN and 27 units.

The IAF took about 100 MiG-29s, which equip three squadrons.

India received 49 Mirage 2000s, which equip two squadrons. More than three have been lost.

The IAF has received more than 130 Jaguars, and production is continuing. Five squadrons presently operate the type and a sixth is understood to be forming.

For completeness, India also has two squadrons of Su-30s. About 36 aircraft have been delivered, of 50 ordered. Furrther local production is likely.

[The Legend]

What a waste of a Jag. Surely it could have been put to some use on the Tain range like our Jags are about to be !


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