The IAF today lost its third pilot this year when Flt Lt Ajit Singh’s Jaguar fighter-bomber crashed shortly after take-off from the IAF’s Gorakhpur air base.Singh was on a low-level flying mission when the aircraft came down at 8.20 am in Khalilabad village of Basti district. The IAF has ordered a routine court of inquiry. So far this year, two IAF MiG-21s and an HPT-32 trainer have crashed.‘‘There was no damage to civil property and no individual was injured or killed as a result of the aircrash,’’ an IAF spokesperson said this afternoon. Reports from the Basti area, however, indicated that three civilians on the ground received minor injuries when the plane came down. The Gorakhpur air base operates two Jaguar squadrons (16 and 27).Ironically, the two-decade old Jaguars began a comprehensive mid-life upgrade programme at HAL and the Defence Avionics Research Establishment (DARE) in December 2003, to progressively extend the fleet’s life and add cutting-edge avionics and mission systems. This has included modification of the maritime version Jaguar’s fire control radar and a total electrical connector change on the entire fleet.But the Anglo-French Jaguar still has had a substantially better safety record than the Russian MiG fighter series, a huge number of which the IAF operates and will continue to operate for the next 10 years. In March this year, the IAF’s Director for Inspection and Flight Safety Air Marshal Padamjit Ahluwalia said that the force’s safety record was better than what was popularly perceived. Jaguars from Ambala even participated successfully in the Cope Thunder air exercises in Alaska last August.The last time a Jaguar crashed was just over a year ago, on May 7, 2004 in Ambala. The IAF has lost over 20 Jaguars since they were first purchased in 1979 and 12 pilots have lost their lives in Jaguar accidents. The silver jubilee of IAF Jaguars was celebrated last year.Last year, the IAF lost four Jaguars, compelling an investigation into the aircraft’s engine last May. Reports also came in of engine snags on the Jaguar’s twin engine configuration. When the issue of engine snags was taken up in Parliament last July, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said, ‘‘The only major problem faced by some of the Adour engines installed on Jaguar aircraft pertains to low thrust. This problem has been reported on 10 pec of these engines.’’In September 2002, the government ordered a study by HAL, DGAQA and engine makers Rolls Royce to investigate the snags. Mukherjee said the recommendations had been implemented.
