CoIs delayed; Fighters flying with snags?

BANGALORE: The country has lost 30 fighter jets and 10 helicopters in the last three years but a lack of time-bound courts of inquiry (CoI) has made it difficult to prevent crashes since the cause of the crashes is not known due to delayed reports.“There is no timeline specified for a CoI,” Wing Commander Gerrard Galloway, IAF spokesperson said, but clarified that the benchmark for completing the report is “as soon as possible”. The advanced Sukhoi Su-30 became the latest million dollar machinery to crash in Pune a few days ago and a probe has been ordered to find out the cause of the crash. “The fleet will be held back for a day or two till there is clarity on whether there was a design, technical or pilot fault,” he said. He said the flight data recorder was found and the CoI should be able to complete the report soon.Explaining why they cannot have a timeline, he said that if there was an engine flame-out, parts would be sent to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for investigation and that different situations demanded different investigations. The report on the Intermediate Jet Trainer (IJT) crash in Tamil Nadu earlier this year is yet to be out and HAL has maintained that there “can be no timeline for completing the report”.Galloway, on the other hand, said the CoI was expected to ascertain the cause of the crash at the earliest, as any design problems could affect other aircraft in the fleet as well. “We expect the CoI report to be out soon because if there is a design defect, then the entire fleet needs to be checked before they take to the  skies to prevent a crash,” he said.The issue not only raised questions in Parliament, but also started a war of words between the IAF and the Ministry of Defence.