Minutes before Wing Commander Meet Kumar hurtled to his death yesterday, he was on radio with the Air Traffic Control (ATC) of the Pathankot Air base and sought permission to return immediately.
Wing Commander Kumar, who had taken off from the Pathankot airbase at about 12.20 and crashed a little later, was flying a Type 75 MiG 21 – the second oldest fighters in the IAF.
“Ops normal sir?” the ATC had asked Wing Commander Kumar wanting to know whether the fighter was operating properly. The aircraft that Wing Commander Kumar was flying had just been serviced after having flown for 200 hours.
He was flying the “first-air-test” sortie. The sortie is to clear the aircraft for normal operational flying. The first-air-test sortie is normally flown by an experienced pilot. Wing Commander Kumar had done 800 hours with the MiG 21.
Wing Commander Kumar told the ATC the weather parameters required to complete the “first-air- test” sortie was not adequate because of clouds.
Even as the ATC hurriedly cleared him for landing, the MiG 21 disappeared from the radar. Minutes later, the worst fears of the Pathankot based 26 Squadron of the Indian Air Force were confirmed.
A court of Inquiry has been ordered and it will establish what led to the accident and death of Wing Commander Kumar. Two things have attracted the attention of senior IAF pilots – the auto-pilot of the Type 75 MiG 21 and that Wing Commander Kumar had the requisite flying hours and was considered to be one of the best.
“The Auto-pilot in the Type 75 functions on the analogue mode and is legacy auto-pilot. Unlike auto-pilots in modern fighters they are known to be difficult and at times erratic,” a top IAF source told India Today and added “In case of clouds you switch to the auto-pilot mode.”
Type 75 MiG 21 should have been decommissioned years ago
The Type 75 MiG 21 shouldn’t have been flying. Ideally these fighters should have been decommissioned between 2010- 2015, top sources have confirmed to India Today.
The 26 Squadron is the only remaining squadron of the IAF that flies these old fighters. “Had the IAF got its two squadrons of the indigenously made Tejas fighters and two Squadrons of Russian made Su 30Mki, the Type 75 MiG 21 fighters would have been decommissioned,” senior Defence Ministry officials told India Today.
The Indian Air Force has about 9 Tejas fighters. None of these are, however, cleared for operational flying.
Worse, the IAF will keep flying Type-75 MiG21 aircraft for the next few years. Sources told India Today that IAF is planning to create a mixed squadron of Type-75 and the upgraded Type 96 MiG 21 also called the Bison.
Mixed squadrons or a fleet with more than one kind of fighter are generally avoided. Each aircraft has different norms and procedures to handle emergencies, maintenance and flying requirements.
“If Type-75 fighters are grounded, the strength of the fighter squadrons will drop below 30,” sources told India Today. The Indian Air Force needs at least 42 squadrons to maintain a credible deterrence along the northern and western borders. Source India today
