Two days after one of its pilots was killed in a MiG-21 crash, an Indian Air Force Jaguar strike aircraft crashed today, killing its pilot. The aircraft, on a training sortie, crashed about 80-km from Gorakhpur. The pilot of the aicraft was Flight Lieutenant S Pandey. One civilian girl who was hit by splinters on the ground also succumbed to her injuries. R.I.P.
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Very sad to know.
TV said that Plane was a trainer and collided with the high voltage wires.
Mig21s are called flying coffins.. because they kill the pilot flying them. Jaguars should be called something else because they kill not only the pilot but also the civilians nearby. We should give these free to pakistan, it would be really beneficial for us.
What the fuck is happening here? Another pilot is dead and even an citizen. Are our politicians really concerned about our defence personals death, "forget civilians, they just don't care about civilian". We should ask our politicians to travel in Mig21, Mig27, Mig29 and Jaguar aircraft's. If this happens Indian AirForce will be flying two seater F22's.
What these birds will do in any possible war.
i guess our enemy will not have to fight any air wars if this trend continues …
Hi Shiv
I know that area.More like 100kms away from Gorakhpur.I've seen them flying so low when i was a kid.I used to run to roof to watch them.So sad to hear this:(
RIP
This should not be tolerated anymore. IAF can go on crashing its jets and killing it's pilots, but the moment IAF's jets become a threat to the very people they are supposed to protect, then it's time to take IAF to the task.
IAF is an organisation which every year is given thousands of crores for its equipment — thousands of crores which could have been used for some other purpose. It is its duty to ensure that it does the needful with that money. Whining excuses of 'Babus delaying the projects' etc is NOT our f*&king problem! We gave you the money, so it your duty to make that money work.
The time has come to put utmost pressure on the IAF — public demonstrations, signature campaigns, dharnas in front of air bases etc. Two things will happen because of this – 1)When their balls are being squeezed, IAF will in turn put pressure on the Babus and netas 2) When the babus & netas see us putting pressure on the IAF, they'll get their act together because they'll realize that if not, they'll be targetted next.
Make no mistake, a revolution of the kind which happened in Egypt is the only way this mess can be cleared up. If we continue to sympathize with the IAF and make jingoistic statements, these crashes will continue. … No, I'm not a paki!
What a sad incident and a start that no incoming ACM would expect to have. Hopefully he shows up some balls to get the deals moving to success and leading to induction.
RIP to the pilot.
RIP Flight Lieutenant S Pandey & girl.
So another pilot dead within a week. Fast track new equipment. Still cant believe Mirage upgrade deal will take 10 years…
WTF is wrong with these guys????????? another fatal crash..dont know how many more to come..
Dont blame the politicians for everything. The higher command in the IAF are equally ignorant of training standards and loss of live of the junior cadre.
@ anon 4.02, abe gadhe bolne k pehle kuch soch to le.
Every life lost is a sad loss. We must accelerate the induction of AJTs (Hawk) and ground based simulators. How many hours did the pilot have on IJT -Kiran and on AJT- Hawk?
AK Anthony should take moral responsibility and resign. He has slowed all the processes including prinatisation of the aircraft assembly and manufacturing.
Similarly, our national security is in danger by his delays in acquiring the artillery guns delayed by two decades now.
We can't blame the training standards alone .These airplanes are 32 years old and for god sake we need to induct new planes.
The pilots and the civilians both are precious including these equipments.
The one which are not precious and not bothered about all these are the fucking politicians who don't have the time to think except for collecting illegal wealth.
We need new planes to revamp IAF. We should look to induct more than 126 MMRCA's .
RIP Brave Souls
Time to again remember!!!Military aviation is inherently and Jaguars fly low.Yes,there is more we can do,but hysterics against the forces will do little.The Jaguars have a very fair service record in IAF.
Please see the other Military crashes in other forces:
The US forces alone have had 5 incidents so far in 2011.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_accidents_and_incidents_involving_military_aircraft_(2000%E2%80%93present)#2011
Its time to introspect
No more lose of Valuable assets must not be tolarated
@All:
Some thoughts and quotes
Whenever we talk about a pilot who has been killed in a flying accident, we should all keep one thing in mind. He called upon the sum of all his knowledge and made a judgment. He believed in it so strongly that he knowingly bet his life on it. That his judgment was faulty is a tragedy, not stupidity. Every instructor, supervisor, and contemporary who ever spoke to him had an opportunity to influence his judgment, so a little bit of all of us goes with every pilot we lose. (Anonymous)
Flying is inherently dangerous. We like to gloss that over with clever rhetoric and comforting statistics, but these facts remain: gravity is constant and powerful, and speed kills. In combination, they are particularly destructive.
RIP.
Obviously the way things are moving, some of the old Migs and Jaguars may not be reaching to their retirement.
Someone needs to study and ensure the impact of the presence of Hawk trainers on the whole process and the positive contribution it had made so far.
It must be a shame that Hawk was inordinately delayed.
Posting here and discussing it is waste of time
*Shiv as a journalist take some initiative bcoz media has its own power and freedom in our country
wat abt call out AK Anthony for open media interview as prime minister manmohansing did (by which lokpal bill aroused)
since we hav right to ask, so we ask abt not only recent flight crashes but also abt delays in various projects like P 15, 17, 28, artillery, m2000 UG price, and lot more unfinished specs in the field of defense in india
we dont want to protest or rebel bcoz we hav our right of democracy, power of people(its India not Egypt)
(Anyway one thing to note politicians should beg for thier votes for every 5 years but not our higher officials, commanders, admirals, and civil service officers!!!
*Fact is officers screw is with ministry and ministries screw is with
us(people), So Screw them)
Screw them for proper Incredible India
-Jai Hind
Jaguars are yet to get a new engine upgrade. somehow they will hang around with mirages and fulcrums for another 15-20 years.sukhois are a consolation. LCA is already behind schedule. typhoons and rafales are expensive. they should order 40 planes on a fast track basis and negotiate for the F-35.
@Kat: Well said. Fully agree.
@Aravind: The govt certainly has a lot to answer for. No doubt. But this isn't just about the government. Easy to look at accidents with the comfort of anger and emotion. Tougher to get the real problems sorted. Not saying politicians like Defence Ministers aren't part of the problem. Of course they are. But they aren't alone.
THESE ASS HOLES …SO CALLED POLITICIANS AND IAF DIGNITARIES WHO ONLY KNW TO GO FOR THOSE AIRCRAFT DEALS WHICH WILL FILL THEIR WALLETS….THESE FUCKERS DONT WORTH OTHERS LIVES…THEY SUD BE PUT IN THE COCKPIT OF 40 YR OLD FLEET N LEFT TO DIE…THEN THEY WILL REALISE…STOP FUKIN FLYING MIG 21S JUST BY MODIFYING THE AVIONICS N SAYING AROUND IN THE MEDIA THAT MIG 21S HAVE BECOME 4TH GENERATION AIRCRAFTS…THE FUKIN ENGINES R OF 1970…WHICH IS KILLING OUR PEOPLE…FUKIN BYE SUPERIOR AIRCRAFTR…NEW 4TH GENERATIONS ONES…HOW MANY MIRAGES OR SUKHOIS HAVE CRASHD…COME ON…GROUND THE MIGS N JAGUARS….THEY R OLD…OR ELSE DO THEIR ENGINE OVERHAUL…VALUE LIVES…
Very very sad news two pilots killed in 3 days the useless politicians should wake up and fast track all the procurement process
Real sad news, 2 pilots dead within a week. Rip to the dead.
Mig 21s Flying Coffins
Mig 27s Old tech
Jaguars Faulty engines
Seems like we are never short of excuses for defending our dismal record of fighter crashes.
Su 30 crash:-
Excuse: Pilot threw the wrong switch resulting in shutdown….Really impressive IAF
R.I.P. It's unfortunate, but understandably a accident is an accident, at least in case of Jaguar crash. With so many hours put everyday there's tremendous load on both man and machine. However fatality is really cause of concern. Ejections should not fail.
Rest in Peace
RIP…May god give some courage to the families of the departed souls to bear the loss..
little knowledge is a dangerous thing, applicable to all the guys above.comments posted without knowing the a of aviation.
The military establishment in India seems to be somewhat lackadaisical …Generals squabbling over retirement age, real-estate deals, buddy networks, politician-soldier nexus and above all the defense supplier mafia !!
Most of the IAF establishments appear crumbling …. even maintenance of ordinary buildings, estates have taken a downslide over the years. This speaks volumes about professionalism and above all 'attachment' to services !!
When a pilot dies in an air accident, we all must remember that he faced a situation the likes of which he never faced before in his life. he collected all his capabilities of skill, intellect, training and experience and arrived at a decision. it was unfortunate that his decision went wrong.
We all, who came across him in his lifetime. had a chance to influence him and his decision and therefore we all were responsible for that wrong decision.
and along with him, a part of all of us has died.
anon 4.02- you say ur not a paki but u sure speak lyk an ass. Have u ever met the people who fly these machines for real. Pls do so, they r not so different from u & me and as dedicated to the country as u are.
To the moron at 4:02PM
The IAF has absolutely no power over defence purchases in India. The blame rests 100% with our UPA babus and netas, who have been diddling their thumbs on the MMRCA fighter purchase for over 7 years, whether out of lazyness, incompetence or greed for bribes.
The idiot-in-chief is AK Antony, our defence minster who has a reputation for honesty in defence deals… because he barely ever signs any.
You can add another feather to the shit-cap of AK Antony's lethargic incompetent Defence Minstry. Like almost every other defence deal they delayed the replacement of Jaguar engine too long. And lo behold! Here is their result.
Just like in everything else the UPA's Defence Minstry is only good at corruption(Army Ration Scam, Sukhna Land Scam, Scorpene Scam, Gorshkov price inflation, overpricing in every defence deal, Artillery fiasco, MMRCA circus, fighter upgrade delays etc.)
Lets be honest….its our training, maintenance guys and pilots etc….PAF operated far older and out dated machine called F-6 (copy of mig-19)….look at their attrition rate…they also currently operate the F-7 (copy of mig-21)…and we all know chinese copies are inferior to USSR. So how come their attrition is so low? as the old saying goes its the man behind the machine….
The Jaguar is a good plane the causes of this crash could be technical courtesy maintainance & support by HAL or controlled flight into terrain ie pilot error. The IAF jaguars fly very low level attack profiles and something could have gone terribly wrong during that low level flight training exercise. Low level flying is extremely taxing and arduous and i heard IAF flies very low level training missions at heights which are lower than those done by USAF. IAF and British Airforce low level training missions are almost flying nap of the earth missions i.e tree hugging hence even a slight error or malfunction can lead to tragic results.
More than the jaguar loss i think its really sad that the IAF has lost a very well trained and experienced pilot who is irreplacable as an vital human asset of the IAF.
Ultimately the IAF Board of Inquiry will investigate and deliver its findings as to what went wrong on this training mission.
Jaguar being a low level strike aircraft is inherently more vulnerable than other IAF jets. Having two engines doesn't help at extremely low flying height (tree top level) of the Jaguar because an engine failure resulting in even a slight loss of altitude slams the jet into the ground without any warning. There is no time to react or take corrective measures. This is why Jaguar crashes often lead to pilot's death as they have no time to eject.
The problem is not with the jet but the role it has been assigned, considering the risks of which the Jaguar has performed commendably.
Very disheartening,i am a resident of Gorakhpur and i see these beautiful jaguars on regular sorties thundering like a rain god as they flew very low to the terraces of our colony,let his soul rest in peace and so of the girl's.
erm jaguar crashing…whats the reason???
Flight Lieutenant S Pandey RIP
I think the constituted Court of Inquiry needs to be wound up. Every bloody tom, dick and tiwary who has nothing to do with military flight operations instantly knows exactly what went wrong and whom to hang. Barring a few sane voices up above, I must say that the quality of uninformed bullshit on the comments section of this blog has deteriorated considerably. In a third world country you expect and demand a first world Air Force. In comparison to the other 'gormint' agencies seen around you responsible for your roads, power, water, public transport (or lack thereof) and assorted babugiri, the IAF shines as a hard working professional force operating under extreme constraints. It is easy to let fly with vitriol at the people who are sincerely trying to make a difference. I would be impressed if you put your money where your mouth is by joining up instead of sitting in your cushy billets playing fricking video games in your spare time. And for those long distance critics in New Jersey or wherever, don't even get me started ! Stars and Stripes forever, why wasting time on the lumbering tricolour of your forefathers!
Reply to this comment, posted by a "idiot"- doestnt knw abt nythng , hw airforce works nd r country system functions the comment was
"Anonymous said…
This should not be tolerated anymore. IAF can go on crashing its jets and killing it's pilots, but the moment IAF's jets become a threat to the very people they are supposed to protect, then it's time to take IAF to the task.
IAF is an organisation which every year is given thousands of crores for its equipment — thousands of crores which could have been used for some other purpose. It is its duty to ensure that it does the needful with that money. Whining excuses of 'Babus delaying the projects' etc is NOT our f*&king problem! We gave you the money, so it your duty to make that money work.
The time has come to put utmost pressure on the IAF — public demonstrations, signature campaigns, dharnas in front of air bases etc. Two things will happen because of this – 1)When their balls are being squeezed, IAF will in turn put pressure on the Babus and netas 2) When the babus & netas see us putting pressure on the IAF, they'll get their act together because they'll realize that if not, they'll be targetted next.
Make no mistake, a revolution of the kind which happened in Egypt is the only way this mess can be cleared up. If we continue to sympathize with the IAF and make jingoistic statements, these crashes will continue. … No, I'm not a paki!
4:02 PM"
my reply-
1. Please do some home work , before posting any comment. IAF does not receive any money. It remains with MOD.
2. Bloody, u r know one to take IAF on task. You Fucking ppl only can write these kinds of comments. You r able to write this comment peacefully, because somebody is sitting on border. He is awake at nite, so that u F***king ppl can sleep and write these types of comments.
3. Please study, i am sure u must b XII pass only. Bcoz u doesnt knw, how r Govt. works and how the purchases are done in our country.
4. Sorry fr writing the abusive language. This kinda ppl deserves more………..