IAF advised to further reduce air accidents

New Delhi, May 19 (UNI) The Indian Air Force today came in for fulsome praise from Members of Parliament for significantly lowering annual accident rates involving loss of aircraft and fatalities but was cautioned against complacency in this regard.

The MPs -- all members of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to the Defence Ministry -- stressed the need for the IAF to take further measures to reduce the accident rates to a level at par with the Air Forces of the world.

Addressing the Committee meeting here, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee informed the members that the IAF flight safety record through the past decades had been an area of concern not only for the government but equally amongst the general public.

The average rate of Category-I accidents -- involving the loss of aircraft and fatalities thereby -- for the period from 1994-95 to 2003-04 was 0.88 and amounted to a loss of approximately 23 aircraft and 16 fatalities per annum.

During 2004-05, the accident rate was brought down to 0.65 involving the loss of 16 aircraft and nine fatalities.

The accident rate was further brought down during 2005-06 to 0.49 involving the loss of 11 aircraft and eight fatalities -- thereby representing a reduction of 59 per cent in Category-1 mishaps as compared to the average rate since 1970 and a 50 per cent reduction in accident rate when compared to the average rate during the decade 1994-2004.

Substantial improvement in the flight safety scenario had been achieved by carefully monitoring accident trends and identifying the causes, the Minister informed the meeting.

An expert committee was constituted in December 2004 to identify the root causes and to prepare a comprehensive action plan to reduce the losses to a minimum. The expert committee interacted with various specialist directorates in IAF, certifying and overhaul agencies and the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

Subsequently, in its findings made to the Government, the Committee pointed out the inadequacies that affected flight safety.

An implementation task team -- comprising representatives of the Army, Navy and Air Wings -- was set up within six months to ensure implementation of the recommendations of the expert committee, the Minister said.

Among the flight safety measures recommended by the Expert Committee, periodic holding of International Flight Safety Conferences was one such measure. And IAF organised one such in January this year with 500 delegates from Air Forces of 14 countries and defence officials from 39 countries attending.

Representatives from the Indian side comprised officials from Ministries, Military, paramilitary organisations, aviation-related research, manufacturing and quality assurance agencies and national and private airlines thereby accruing benefits such as exchange of ideas and information to the participants.

The Conference provided ''an excellent platform'' for interaction between the military and civil aviation organisations, Minister Mukherjee said.

Pointing to low fleet serviceability of IAF aircraft due to shortage of spares, the Defence Minister said he had suggested a fast-track procurement mechanism and deputed a task force for expeditious finalisation of contracts for overhaul and purchase of critical spares, resulting thereby in improvement of serviceability of the IAF fleet in the near future.

The Minister was also of the opinion that redundant and unreliable aircraft be withdrawn -- decommissioned -- from the aircraft fleet. An enhanced budgetary provision of 32 per cent has been made over the last three years for the upkeep and maintenance of aircraft thereby giving impetus to flight safety and higher serviceability, he observed.

Today's meeting of the Consultative Committee was attended by Messrs Suresh Kalmadi, Jyotiraditya M Scindia, MA Kharabela Swain, Shivaji Rao Patil, Sanjay Dhotre, and Mrs Jayaben B Thakkar (all Lok Sabha members) and Dr Karan Singh, Messrs K Jana Krishnamurthy and Santosh Bagrodia (all Rajya Sabha members).

UNI DG VD HS1846