Article

2005-12-28 India-Pakistan

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Posted by Steve White 2005-12-28 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11131 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 There is only one IAF, and its jets do not crash.

Posted by gromgoru 2005-12-28 00:28|| 2005-12-28 00:28|| Front Page Top

#2 Another crash - keep it up and the Indian Air Force pilots may all get to meritoriously qualify as de facto Chinese aces wid out ever having to dogfight or battle China!?

Posted by JosephMendiola 2005-12-28 03:38|| 2005-12-28 03:38|| Front Page Top

#3 Joe that's mean. They would be known as Black Aces. I think B-1 Bob Dornan was a Black Ace.

Posted by Leon Clavin 2005-12-28 11:13|| 2005-12-28 11:13|| Front Page Top

#4 here is only one IAF, and its jets do not crash.

Really? The Indian Air Force (IAF) was founded in 1932.

From a 2003 news report...

"February 25, 2003 - Yesterday afternoon an F-16 fighter jet crashed in the northern West Bank."
"Six Israeli F-16s have crashed since September 1997, including three in 2000."

Only boutique air forces keep their planes on the ground, preserving them imdefinately.

Real air forces train constantly and this leads to periodic crashes due to bird hits, engine problems etc.

The Indian Air Force is saddled with a huge Mig 21 fleet that should have been retired years ago.
Its airbase environment is also quite hostile. There are many open air abbatoirs near air fields that attract large numbers of birds, that cause quite a few crashes. Indian politicians have preventing the closing of these abbatoirs for fear of offending the muslim community. There is also the problem of unreliable spares bought from eastern europe.

Posted by john 2005-12-28 11:30|| 2005-12-28 11:30|| Front Page Top

#5 Reading Indian newspaper reports, one would think that aircraft in other air forces do not crash.
Fact is that if one maintains the flying hours that the IAF does (average 180 hours per pilot per year) and uses aircraft beyond the manufacturer airframe life, there will be crashes.

Based on 1997 figures, the IAF attrition rate is 0.32 per 10,000 flying hours.

Posted by john 2005-12-28 11:42|| 2005-12-28 11:42|| Front Page Top

#6 John. There is only one IAF.

Posted by gromgoru 2005-12-28 19:33|| 2005-12-28 19:33|| Front Page Top

#7 They got dibs on the name - 1932

Posted by john 2005-12-28 19:35|| 2005-12-28 19:35|| Front Page Top

#8 History of the IAF

Former in 1932, the IAF was bestowed with the prefix "Royal" in March 1945 and was then known as the Royal Indian Air Force RIAF.
It reverted back to IAF in 1950 when India became a republic.

Posted by john 2005-12-28 19:57|| 2005-12-28 19:57|| Front Page Top

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