Pilot Killed in MIG-27 Crash

In yet another crash in IAF, a MiG-27 fighter went down near
Siliguri in West Bengal on Tuesday afternoon, killing the pilot, Wing Commander Aswal.
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.