IAF’s Hercules may have hit hillock
NEW DELHI: Indian Air Force’s C-130J aircraft
that crashed on Friday killing all five on board
may have banged into a hillock, lost control,
and hurtled into the Chambal area, according to
preliminary dependable information available.
A senior IAF officer told TOI that the
information, provided mostly by the crew of the
other C-130J, which was the lead aircraft in the
formation, show that ill-fated aircraft missed
the hillock in an otherwise plain landscape. The
first aircraft pulled up as it reached the hillock,
but the second aircraft went and banged on it.
The input is also corroborated by the angle in
which it crashed into the ground, he said.
The preliminary information could be revised
after the detailed court of inquiry into the crash
is completed. While specifics of what exactly
happened in those ill-fated moments to the
four-engine US aircraft would be only known
after the inquiry, the information available now
douses fears of possible sabotage.
Despite what is known now, IAF top brass is
worried about the loss of precious lives and a
strategic platform. “We can’t just forget this as
an aberration. We need to be worried—about
training, about exercises, about everything that
is professional,” a senior official said.
The crash at Chambal region on Friday around
11 am killed all five personnel on board— Wing
Commanders P Joshi and Raji Nair, Squadron
Leaders K Mishra and A Yadav, and warrant
officer Krishna Pal Singh.
The crash occurred in Maharajpur village area
near Chambal river in Rajasthan’s Karauli
district. The C-130J took off from Agra at 10 am
for a tactical flying exercise, behind the lead
aircraft.
The accident has shaken the IAF and
government, as the C-130Js are among the latest
aircraft and among the safest planes operating
in the world. The IAF started inducting C-130J
in February 2011, and half a dozen of them are
in service. Recently, it has placed order for
another six of them.
IAF chief Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha said in a
statement on Friday that IAF has “exploited
capabilities of this aircraft during Uttarakhand
floods and landing at DBO (Daulat Beg Oldi),
which is the highest landing ground in the
world. Needless to say, that the best pilots have
been chosen to fly these aircraft.”
Raha pointed out that the events like these are
“painful reminders of the inherent risks which
our brave airwarriors face in the execution of
our daily mission.”
from TOI
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