NEWS
On Friday February 25, an IAF three-star general and a wing commander escaped unhurt when the multi-role Mirage 2000 twin-seat jet fighter they were flying crashed after an engine problem in the Bhind region of Madhya Pradesh. Posted as the Air Officer-in-Charge Personnel (AOP) at IAF HQ in New Delhi, Air Marshal Anil Chopra was on an official tour to Gwalior airbase as the ‘Commodore Commandant’ of No.1 Squadron (The Tigers). The other occupant of the ill-fated jet, Wing Commander Ram Kumar is the present Commanding Officer (CO) of the ‘Tigers’. Both were on a routine training flying mission when the mishap occurred off Gwalior.

VIEWS
While the Court of Inquiry (Cof I) will go deep to ascertain the exact cause of the accident, preliminary investigations reveal it to be the failure of the power plant of the singleengine fighter which eventually resulted in the loss of the ‘jet’. Incidentally, this happens to be the first case of engine failure in the Mirage 2000 fleet since its induction into the Indian Air Force (IAF), a quarter of a century ago. As a matter of fact, Air Marshal Anil Chopra had gone to Gwalior in his capacity of being the ‘Commodore Commandant’ — an honour and a privilege conferred on the senior most serving ex-Commanding Officer of a squadron—to participate in the silver jubilee functions of Mirage 2000 induction into the IAF’s No. 1 (Tigers) and No. 7 (Battle Axes) squadrons.

From its first induction into service in 1985, the IAF went on to eventually raise three squadrons—the third being No. 9 Squadron (Wolf Pack), also located at Gwalior since its raising in 2004. In the process, the IAF acquired a total of 49 single-seat and 10 twin-seat versions of this highly versatile multi-role fighter. Mirage 2000 proved to be a boon for the IAF, posting consistently high rate of serviceability in all its years of operations and continues to do so. During the entire period of Kargil War in 1999, for example, Mirage 2000 had maintained an incredible serviceability state of near 100 per cent. The aircraft also acquitted itself admirably, as the most capable precision attack aircraft both during day as well as night missions. But the story does not end here. Mirage 2000 has also posted one of the best flight safety records amongst all the fighter fleets of the IAF, having lost only four aircraft (including the one under discussion), with an enviable—at least in the IAF’s context—CAT-I accident rate of roughly .25 per 10,000 hours.

One of the major constituents for the consistently high serviceability in the Mirage fleet was the creation of excellent logistics/maintenance support at Gwalior—home base of the entire Mirage 2000 fleet since induction—which included setting up of an engine test bed (ETB), at the base itself. This facility not only enabled quick snag rectification, minor or major, but also ensured strict ‘quality control’ standards by the technical crews. Little wonder, it contributed immensely in maintaining an excellent flight safety record even in the ‘uniquely configured’ single-engine fighter—at least, till the February 25 accident.

In this particular case, an engine snag reportedly occurred soon after take-off, initially causing partial loss of power, but still enabling the aircraft to climb to a height of 8,000 ft. During this period, the pilots must have focused their attention to problem solving, but was there a possibility of recovering the aircraft while it was still developing partial thrust? It may be recalled that amongst many in the past, there was a case of a Su-7, which experienced substantial loss of power due to a large bird-hit in the engine soon after take-off from Ambala airbase, but with some quick thinking, and carrying out a teardrop turn, the pilot was able to safely recover the aircraft on the reciprocal runway. However, as every occurrence is different from the other, the one cited above may have had no relevance in the present case. In any event, as is customary, the C of I, will dwell upon all aspects of the accident to find the truth and remove any speculations which may be doing the rounds now.