India has so far crashed 5 of its Su 30 MKIs. Coincidentally the pilot in the first crash was also the pilot of the last. Yesterday the 5th Su-30MKI crashed at a village near Pune on the evening of October 15, 2014, with both the pilots (Wing Cdr Sidharth Vishwas Munje & Flying Officer Anup Kumar) ejecting to safety. The aircraft was on a routine training mission from the IAF Pune airbase. It crashed while coming in for landing at a distance of approximately 22km from the Pune airfield. It is suspected to be a FADEC failure (Full authority digital engine (or electronics) control (FADEC) is a system consisting of a digital computer, called an electronic engine controller (EEC) or engine control unit (ECU), and its related accessories that control all aspects of aircraft engine performance. FADECs have been produced for both piston engines and jet engines). Wing Cdr Munje was guilty of pilot error with the first aircraft crashing. Details of precisely what went wrong yesterday though are still trickling in, but whats available strongly suggests that Munje and his co-pilot were heroes in the air yesterday. They grappled to control a doomed fighter and eject only after ensuring it would glide into a sugarcane field, away from a built-up area that may have been the site of impact had the pilots chosen to eject earlier. The 1st Su-30MKI crashed on April 30, 2009 at Pokhran near Jaisalmer district in Rajasthan. The aircraft was flown by Wing Cdrs Siddharth V Munje and Pushpendra Singh Nara. The Court of Inquiry (CoI) found that the pilot, Wing Commander Munje, inadvertently switched-off the four switches that control the power-supply to the digital flight-control computer. Switching-off the power not only cuts off the power-supply to the flight-control 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. 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 questioned the placing of critical switches that are not to be used during flight and only for power-on when the aircraft is on the ground in the cockpit and also, the inadequate built-in safety mechanisms like a wire-lock or even a covering flap. 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 IAF should have insisted on design changes way back in 1998 itself when the ASTE’s experimental test-pilots were evaluating this aircraft-type. 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 has been attributed to material failure of the harness due to exposure to the sun. The 2nd Su-30MKI crashed on November 30, 2009 near the Indian Army’s Chandan firing range in Jaisalmer district, south-west of the Pokhran range, after it took off from Jodhpur at 16.45 Hours for a routine training sortie and it crashed around 17.30 Hours. Reason for this crash was the same as that of the first crash. The 3rd Su-30MKI crashed on December 13, 2011 after taking off from Lohegaon air base at 1245 hours. It crashed at 1310 hours. This was due to malfunctioning FADEC. The 4th Su-30MKI crashed on February 19, 2013 at about 1920 Hours. The aircraft was on a night flying training mission from Jodhpur. Wing Commander Gaurav Bikram Singh Chauhan & Squadron Leader A.R. Tamta. During the practice bombing sortie, the fuze of one of OFB-built 13 x 100kg pre-frag OFAB-100 bombs malfunctioned, probably due to a manufacturing defect. (most info thanks to P sengupta)
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 05:31:59 +0000
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