Crash report says all’s well with MiG

In fact, the findings have underscored the need for AJTs, as well as other training aids such as simulators.

Armed with the report, Air Chief Marshal S. Krishnaswamy pointed out that the crash occurred due to a ‘‘slight error in judgement’’ by a trainee pilot.

Consider the facts, as brought out by the president of the inquiry, Air Cmde S. Borbora, a fighter pilot with nearly 30 years on the MiG-21. The crash occurred when a young pilot with 500 hours of flying behind him was undertaking a mandatory battle inoculation exercise on the MiG-21. The exercise can only be conducted in the MiG-21 and adds to the repertoire of skills required by a fully-operational fighter pilot.

But as the findings point out, on that fateful day, as Flt Lt V. Ganesh took control under the watchful eyes of Wg Cdr A. Rastogi, his instructor, a ‘‘slight error’’ led to the crash.

Misjudging the rate of turn, Ganesh climbed too high and the aircraft’s engine stalled. The inquiry also says that Rastogi made a ‘‘valiant’’ effort to pull up the craft but it was beyond recovery.

According to Borbora, the MiG crashed because the trainee pilot initiated the steep climb-up process ‘‘too early’’ with the aircraft engine not responding. The fact that it was operating 1600 ft above sea level in rarified atmosphere also added to the crash. For the air chief, the report vindicates his stand that nothing is wrong with the MiG, considered the backbone of the air force.

Asserting that his force was not covering up the accidents that led to dubbing of the old Russian engines as ‘‘flying coffins’’, the air chief said the publishing of the findings was an effort in this direction. According to him, all the accidents were being probed thoroughly in a ‘‘transparent’’ manner and there was no question of any attempt to ‘‘white wash’’ facts.

However, as air force officials admitted, more training in simulators and AJTs would prove to be a tremendous boost for training its raw pilots.