Express News Service Posted online: Tuesday , Dec 01, 2009 at 0330 hrs
New Delhi/Jaipur : Barely a week after President Pratibha Patil undertook a much publicised sortie in the fighter, a Sukhoi-30 MKI jet of the Indian Air Force (IAF) crashed near Jethagaon in Jaisalmer while returning from a regular training mission. While both pilots managed to eject on time and landed safely, the second crash of India’s most advanced fighter jet in less than eight months has thrown a question mark over its reliability.
IAF PRO Group Captain M G Mehta on Monday said, “The aircraft was on a routine training exercise when the incident occurred and both pilots managed to eject to safety. An inquiry has been ordered into the incident.” He added that the fighter crashed into a vacant plot of land and caused no loss of life or destruction to property.
Rajasthan defence PRO Lt Col. N N Joshi stated that the Sukhoi aircraft took off from Jodhpur at around 4.30 pm at the IAF range in Pokharan but crashed sometime between 5.30 pm and 5.45 pm. While officials reached the site of the crash, the black box has not yet been recovered.
Sources said that the entire Sukhoi fleet, which numbers close to 90 and is currently deployed in Pune, Bareily and Tezpur, has been grounded till a preliminary investigation gives an all clear following the crash. Sources also said that the aircraft that crashed was a brand new fighter that had recently been rolled out by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in India and was part of an upcoming squadron in Pune.
This is the second crash of a Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter after a fatal accident on April 30 in which an officer lost his life. The fleet was grounded for close to a month after the April crash and sources said that the fighters are likely to stay on the ground till investigators give a go ahead.
The Sukhoi-30 MKI fleet, the latest in IAF’s inventory, has had an exceptional safety record but the two recent crashes have caused concern in military circles. The earlier crash, which was attributed to a failure in the flight control system, was never conclusively investigated as the black box was completely destroyed.
In July, Defence Minister AK Antony had said that while there are no serious maintenance problems with the aircraft, the fleet was grounded for three weeks to ascertain the cause of the crash. He also revealed that the reason for the crash was a “likely failure of the fly-by-wire system”. This came after Russian experts tried to put the blame for the crash on the IAF by saying that a human error led to the accident.
И что интересно, А.К.Антони опять продвигает версию о проблемах с дистанционным управлением (FBW), хотя пока даже черный ящик не нашли. В то же время сообщается, что "российские эксперты пытались перевести вину на ВВС Индии, говоря, что причиной катастрофы стал человечаский фактор". И тут интересно прочесть еще одну статью, в которой утверждается, что причиной первой катастрофы стал именно человеческий фактор (летчик вырубил бортовой компьютер):
IAF taking steps to prevent another SU-30MKI crash
Ravi Sharma
BANGALORE: The Indian Air Force is initiating steps aimed at preventing another SU-30MKI crash like the one that occurred near Jaisalmer in April during a routine air exercise, killing the co-pilot and destroying a Rs. 200-crore fighter aircraft.
Highly placed sources in the Ministry of Defence told The Hindu that a joint probe by Indian and Russian Defence and flight engineers zeroed-in on the causes for the crash and suggested remedial action.
While one step will involve better covering of the aircraft when they are parked on the tarmac under to prevent heat soak, the other calls for design change, including wire-locking the switches in the cockpit that control power supply to the aircraft’s flight control computer.
The crash of the long range, high endurance SU-30MKI, the Indian Air Force’s most modern and lethal fighter, sent both the IAF and the aircraft designers, Russia’s Sukhoi Design Bureau, into a tizzy given the fighter’s exceptional and unrivalled flight safety record. The crash also forced the IAF to ground its entire Sukhoi fleet temporarily, compromising the country’s airpower.
The Court of Inquiry (CoI) that went into the crash found that the pilot, Wing Commander S. V. Munje, inadvertently switched-off the four switches that control the power supply to the computer. Switching-off the power not only cuts off the power supply to the computer, but is also irreversible. Switching them on does not ‘power on’ the all important unit.
The aircraft went into a forward bunt, lost control and crashed, killing Wing Commander P. S. Nara, an officer from the IAF’s Directorate of Air Staff Inspection (DASI).
During the flight, the aircraft is said to have experienced a technical glitch after a round of firing practice. The pilot, who was also under routine inspection by the DASI, is said to have then tried to switch-off the armament master switches, which are located just behind the pilot’s seat and in close proximity to the switches that control power to the flight control computer.
Though the CoI’s conclusion was that the crash occurred due to pilot error, a number of officials are questioning the placing of critical switches that are not to be used during in flight and only for power on when the aircraft is on theground in the cockpit and also, the inadequate in-built safety mechanisms like a wire lock or even a covering flap.
Said a former SU-30MKI pilot: “It is unpardonable and a poor design to have such critical switches, which are not to be used by the pilot in such an accessible manner. The Air Force should insist on design changes.”
The probe also revealed that the ejection seat’s harness had broken, leading to the death of Wing Commander Nara.
The reason for the breaking is being attributed to material failure of the harness due to exposure to the sun. The IAF has taken steps to have the aircraft more adequately covered.
Интересно, какие выводы сделают в этот раз.
А с российской стороны не было сообщений о результатах раследования первой катастрофы?
В первой катастрофе черный ящик был уничтожен, а тот, что был на разбившемся недавно самолете, еще ищут. И, насколько я понимаю, эти системы производятся самими индийцами в кооперации с южноафриканской фирмой Aerospace Monitoring And Systems.