During the last five financial years (2012-13 to 2016-17) and current year (upto 18.07.2017) 29 fighter aircraft including 5 Sukhoi-30 and 3 trainer aircraft have crashed. Technical Defects and Human Error were the main causes of the accidents.

Every aircraft accident in the IAF is investigated by a Court of Inquiry (CoI) to ascertain the cause of accident and the recommendations of the completed Courts of Inquiry are implemented.

Training of pilots in the IAF is regularly reviewed to stay abreast of the latest teaching techniques utilising state of the art training aids. This is a continuous process.

Various preventive measures are being taken, including invigoration of Aviation Safety Organisation, streamlining of accident / incident reporting procedure, analytical studies and quality audits of the aircraft fleets to identify vulnerable areas to avoid aircraft accidents. Accident prevention programmes have been given an added thrust to identify risk prone / hazardous areas specific to the aircraft fleets and operational environment, to ensure safe practices / procedures.

This information was given by Minister of State for Defence Dr. Subhash Bhamre in a written reply to Shri Om Birla and others in Lok Sabha today.

Nampi/DK/Rajib   

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