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| Indian pilots refuse to fly MiG 21 |
| 2004-02-26 |
| The pilots in the Indian Air Force have reportedly refused to fly the ageing MiG 21 in view of the fatal casualties and have demanded of the authorities to immediately replace the extremely demanding fighter aircraft. For a young fighter jock to refuse to fly, things must be pretty bad. Inside sources in the IAF said that after a Flying Officer, G.S. Grumman, managed to eject from his troubling MiG 21 in Jamnagar on Friday last, the young pilots assembled at the Base and lodged their written protest over forcing the fliers to have sorties on these machines which have been nick-named as "flying coffins" in view of the high rate of crashes and the loss of human lives. The pilots’ assembly almost wore the look of a street protest, an unknown phenomenon in military, but seniors prevailed to cool down the young pilots assuring them of the redressal of their grievances. "We may be the rookie, bright-eyed and full of swashbuckling spirit but we cannot fly these ’flying coffins’ without adequate training and monitoring by our seniors," said an agitated young pilot. It may be mentioned here that the youngest pilots for the maximum number of sorties fly this oldest aircraft in the IAF. Senior pilots get their pick of the newest birds. Coupled with inadequate flying skills, lack of situational awareness and errors of judgment, the MiG 21st with several design limitations form a deadly mix, admitted an officer. Ya think? The Friday’s crash, as per preliminary investigations, was caused due to an engine flameout. Technical defects and human errors have caused 40 per cent each of the around 320 category-I crashes (where the loss in men and the machine is total) witnessed by the IAF since 1990-1991, with the rest being attributed to bird his and other factors, said Group Captain A.V. Thakurdesai, Director of the IAF Flight Safety Department. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #7 If they've had 320 "Category I" crashes since 1990, that's better than 20 a year. That's a lot of crashes! We complain if we have more than two a year. The early versions of the F-16 were called the "flying lawn dart" because the unique 'fly-by-wire' guidance system was so different from what most pilots were used to. Soviet pilots were terrified of the early models of the Mig-21, because an ejection would usually cost the pilot both legs. Later versions ("F" and later) were better, but still dangerous. The Chinese F-6 is even less airworthy. No one knows what their accident rate is, but I'd be willing to bet it's higher than India's. The more I learned about these crapfighters, the better I appreciated a nice safe desk job! |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2004-2-26 10:53:27 PM |
| #6 I have seen Mig-21's up close, and boy, do they ever play the "coffin" part. |
| Posted by: Sorge 2004-2-26 8:32:08 PM |
| #5 Exactly B-a-r, they can order some better planes from us and we get some of those out-sourced jobs back. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) 2004-2-26 5:25:23 PM |
| #4 BUY AMERICAN! Normally, I would second this but being as how India is supposed to be "nonaligned" (well, the least I heard anyway) and that it seems that a lot of U.S. jobs are being "outsourced" to India, I'd probably tell them to see if Mikhoyan-Gurevich has any updates/improvements that can be applied to their aircraft.. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-2-26 2:18:59 PM |
| #3 Two words: BUY AMERICAN! |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) 2004-2-26 1:52:01 PM |
| #2 I thought inadequate maintenance was the biggest factor, now it sounds like they start training on the worst airframes, huh? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-2-26 9:15:59 AM |
| #1 Flying Officer, G.S. Grumman By God, now there's a good name for a pilot. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-2-26 9:06:16 AM |