The crash of a newly upgraded Mirage-2000 trainer aircraft, which killed two test pilots of the Indian Air Force, is the newest pain point between the air force and public sector undertaking Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).
The twin-seat Mirage-2000 that took off from the HAL airport on February 1 was being piloted by two officers from the IAF’s Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment (ASTE) as part of acceptance sorties to evaluate the aircraft’s ability to be inducted into service.
One version of what happened next was that the aircraft nose-dived onto the runway even before its undercarriage could be retracted. The jet slid along on its twin drop tanks, each holding 1,700 litres of fuel, tearing through arrester barriers meant to restrain aircraft and an inner boundary wall. Both Squadron Leader Samir Abrol and his co-pilot, Squadron Leader Siddhartha Negi, ejected safely, but unfortunately died in injuries sustained when they fell back onto the blazing wreckage.
Anguished veterans saw the horrific crash as another example of PSU callousness. ‘The military has for decades flown poor-quality HAL machines and often paid with young lives but not reckoning for the HAL management. Time to focus on the leadership and directors of this giant PSU,’ former navy chief Admiral Arun Prakash tweeted a day after the crash.
Denne historien er fra February 18, 2019-utgaven av India Today.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra February 18, 2019-utgaven av India Today.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Delhi's Belly
Academic, historian and one of India's most-loved food writers, PUSHPESH PANT'S latest book-From the King's Table to Street Food: A Food History of Delhi-delves deep into the capital's culinary heritage
IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO
Hemant and Kalpana Soren changed Jharkhand's political game, converting near-collapse into an extraordinary comeback
THE MAHA BONDING
At one time, Fadnavis, Shinde and Ajit Pawar were seen as an unwieldy trio with mutually subversive intent. A bumper assembly poll harvest inverts that
THE LION PRINCE
A spectacular assembly election win ended a long political winter for Kashmir and his party, the National Conference. But Omar Abdullah now faces crucial tests—that of meeting great expectations and holding his own with the Centre till J&K gets its statehood back
TRIAL BY FIRE
Formal charges in a US court, an air marked by accusations of bribery and concealment of information, the attendant political backlash, pressure on stock prices, valuation losses. Yet the famed Adani growth appetite and business resilience stays
'Criticism has always been a source of motivation for me'
It’s just day five since he was crowned 2024 FIDE World Chess champion (which he celebrated with a bungee jump), and Gukesh Dommaraju is still learning to adjust to the fanfare.
THE YOUNG GRANDMASTERS
GUKESH DOMMARAJU IS NOW THE YOUNGEST EVER WORLD CHAMPION, BUT THAT IS JUST ICING ON THE CAKE IN INDIA'S CHESS STORY. FOR THE 'GOLDEN GENERATION', 2024 WAS THE YEAR THEY DID IT ALL
SHOOTING QUEEN
Manu Bhaker scripted a classic turnaround at Paris 2024, putting the ghosts of the past behind her through sheer willpower to engrave her own destiny
THE COMEBACK KING
It was in no one's script: Naidu's standing leap from near-oblivion, to a place where he writes the destiny of Andhra—even New Delhi
HALTING THE BJP JUGGERNAUT
A roller-coaster year saw the Opposition coalition rebound with bold moves and policy wins, but internal rifts continue to test its durability
