Aircraft Accidents in Military Aviation

Gp. Capt. A. G. Bewoor

There are more myths than truths floating in India, and those relating to Defence Forces are phenomenal. The great armchair strategists, self-styled analysts, and so-called defense thinkers must bear responsibility for this gross disinformation and phobia about MiGs. The media must carry an equal burden for giving prominence to incorrect conclusions and letting emotions override a sense of proportion.

Most people are ignorant that by the time a Flight Cadet in the Air Force Academy becomes a pilot, he has been tested and checked out by several instructors and supervisors. Many Cadets who join Basic Training get suspended and are routed to Navigation or Ground Duty. Thus not all those who ‘join up’ become pilots. Very disappointing for the cadet and parents, but it has to be done. If the Cadet’s ability to grasp the essence of take off, landing, simple maneuvering, is slower than what is laid down, out he goes. There is no place for him in the IAF where the pilot has to demonstrate this ability swiftly and confidently. His final job is to take an aircraft all by himself, and deliver weapons or supplies with greatest of accuracy, and return to do it again and again. So it is abundantly evident that demands placed on the MiG pilot will be high, they will be continuous, and these demands do not decay with time. In many cases of suspensions the parents bring about pressure to get extension of training for their sons. While disappointment is understandable and instructors hate to suspend a cadet, sometimes it must be done. Suspension also has that crucial element of Flight Safety that says, continuance in pilot training is dangerous for the boy, and for others around him. The ability to become proficient in flying newer and newer aircraft is a requirement that is demanded throughout the career of a military pilot. It therefore follows that, all cadets who become pilots in the IAF have shown some level of consistency and competence and like pilots all over the world, military or civil, the majority of pilots who join the IAF are average to average plus. Some become experts, most remain workhorses of the IAF, with good skills to manage emergencies of life, both in the air and on the ground. When unforeseen situations exceed normal competency levels, most pilots innovate and recover to tell their tales. Some are unable to cope and do not return. The IAF, like all other Air Forces accepts this situation. It is easy to ask the IAF why it permitted an average pilot to fly. The answer lies in the fact that aircraft all over the world are designed to be flown by average pilots. The public, and opinion makers with aggressive access to media, must understand these facts before arriving at judgmental conclusions.

Another aspect of military aviation is that there is no commercial compulsion to fly the aircraft. If the MiG does not fly for 5 days, nothing untoward will happen. But if a Boeing 737 remains on ground for more than its scheduled time commercial pressures build up to get it airborne. So to believe that MiGs that are unfit to fly are launched into the sky is totally misplaced. If the MiG, Mirage, Jaguar or AN-32 is not fully serviceable, it need not fly and it will not fly. Let it be clearly understood by the so called ‘ concerned’ NGOs, analysts, opinion makers, legislators, bureaucrats and private citizens, if an IAF pilot finds his aircraft unserviceable, he will not fly it, and he cannot be made to fly it. To therefore believe that the MiGs that crash are unserviceable flying machines, is false. A machine can and will fail at any time. Periodic servicing, and close monitoring can at best give indications of impending malfunction. Complete and sudden failure, impossible to forecast. Aircraft engines run flawlessly for 10,000 hrs, and yet the same type of engine may fail after just 500 hrs. When it is said that the MiG –21 is an unforgiving aircraft, it does not mean that minor errors result in fatal accidents. It means that if a pilot mishandles a MiG- 21 beyond its normal limits, the aircraft may not recover and especially at low altitudes. And this quality is not unique to the MiG 21 only. All aircraft will not forgive a pilot his misdemeanor especially at low heights. Why blame the MiG 21 and call it ‘unforgiving’. If it were so, we should have lost 70% of all pilots who flew MiGs in the 60s and 70s and indeed many of them made terrible errors. After all, they were just as average as the average pilots of today!  Before the question arises, it can be stated that no technician or engineer in the IAF will certify an aircraft fit, if it is not so. For both the pilot and technician, there are no financial and commercial imperatives to make an unserviceable aircraft fly. Which brings us to the next point, why then are so many accidents taking place? Is that a correct statement to begin with?  Are there really ‘so many’ accidents?

The statistics from the Inspector General of the IAF, clearly indicate a downward trend in accidents. Certainly, there is a crying need to reduce the accident rate further and further. But to expect zero accidents is utopian. First is the business of the MiG being a terribly dangerous machine to fly, and all those young pilots who are ‘forced’ to fly them. Tezpur in Assam, where young pilots are given Operational training, the MiG- 21 flies close to 10,000 hours in one year. Every day and night across the Indian skies, MiG 21s fly. How come not one NGO, not one paper, not one TV channel, not one set of parents, not one defence analyst, not one cartoonist ever makes much of this fact? When a MiG crashes, every body screams murder. When MiGs fly and do not crash, no one bothers. It is a measure of the quality of training in the IAF that most emergencies are successfully overcome by average pilots. If truly the MiG was such a terrible and unforgiving aircraft, we should have written off the fleet by now, and with it more than 500 pilots. It is not happening, does anyone wonder why not? There is too much of romanticizing fighter pilots based on Top Gun and other Hollywood mush. But in Top Gun also pilots die and average pilots make mistakes from which they recover.

An important but neglected arena is the environment. When the first MiG flew with Indian colours in 1964, till today, the environment around our air bases has become increasingly hostile. Housing and industry have mushroomed around Air Force stations with increased bird activity. Slaughter houses have come up smack in the middle of the take off path or landing approach. Industry brings migrant labour that generates open garbage If a bird strike happens on Take Off or Landing Approach, pilots have to eject, and if the height above ground is not enough, the parachute will not deploy, the pilot suffers severe injuries or is killed. All attempts to limit habitation around air force bases fail miserably and the judiciary is no help. Appeals to relocate fall on deaf ears. So the MiGs, and all other aircraft, have to fly through flocks of birds with attendant dangers to aircraft and pilots. Has any NGO, association, group of affected parents, politicians, bureaucrats and the media ever highlighted this issue and trumpeted this fact, just as they do about MiGs being flying coffins? There are laws passed by Parliament about sanitation around all airports, unfortunately it is to be enforced by the State Govt and local police, supervised by lower courts. It does not work and the tragedy is that no High Court nor the Supreme Court has thought it fit to intervene. Environment also means the attitude of the intelligentsia, policy makers, analysts, and of course the media. They too are hostile towards the Defense Forces. A structured and illustrated campaign on Flight Safety and Flying Training in the Indian Air Force needs to be broadcast on TV. The same channels that report disparagingly about MiGs, should take up this cause and refurbish the faith of their viewers in the Air Force, its aircraft and pilots. Every city that has an airport or Air Force Station also has Cable TV. The environment for safer flying can be easily boosted through Cable TV education for as little as a one-minute program every evening. The Inspector General’s Branch at Air HQs will be eager to help any NGO, Quasi Govt, Lions / Rotarians, affected parents and such groups. The initiative must come from those who are concerned and care, and feel a part of the cause for safer flying environment. Like the campaign for a less noisy Diwali, a cleaner Ganga, educating the Girl Child, AIDS; flight safety also needs to be projected aggressively. Making flying safe in the Indian skies is not the exclusive responsibility of the Indian Air Force. After all, the IAF flies because India exists, then surely, Indians from all walks of life must assist in making flying safe.

It is inconceivable that the air marshals are neglecting their responsibilities towards junior pilots. The recent approval of the AJT, 20 years too late, is a glaring example of the hostile environment within which the Air Force operates, and keeps itself ready for war. The politician – bureaucrat combine is a powerful and insurmountable entity, and nothing, not even calamities can budge them out of their disinclination to do what must be done for the Defense forces. Yet it is expected that the IAF will deliver its weapons of war accurately. The charter for the IAF is dictated by the demands of the nation state, and its Threat Perception. It is not a document written with emotional overtones, and psychological dictates. MiG 21s that are flying even as this is being read, are fully serviceable and piloted by trained pilots. It will be a gross injustice if the public, media, NGOs, affected parents, analysts, and policy makers, condemn a perfectly safe aircraft, and its pilots for inaccurate reasons. A final input for the reader. The unique situation in the Air Force, unlike the Army or Navy, is that only the pilots, who are officers, go into battle. It is unthinkable, implausible, unimaginable and certainly outrageous and absurd to believe that, senior pilots will create conditions, and place obstacles to debilitate their successors.