Defence Minister’s disclosures of IAF’s losses in terms of men and machines while training pilots are painful. During past three years, 29 fighter planes, 12 MiGs of various types have crashed. Six pilots and six other civilians also died as a result of these crashes, and some property was damaged. This was revealed by the Defence Minister while replying to questions in the Parliament. News of this kind is very disappointing to the nation. The cost of the aircrafts, precious lives of pilots and civilians and the discouragement that it brings in trail have caused pain to the nation. We all know that to become a pilot and that too of a fighter-bomber aircraft needs a strong heart and Himalayan courage. We know our air force pilots are among the best in the world, and they never lower their professional skills. Crashes do happen in other countries also but very rarely. We cannot raise our finger towards anybody in the context of air crashes in the IAF but we will certainly like that the IAF and the Defence Ministry do all they can to reduce the chances of airplane crashes to the minimum preferably to zero. Our air force is already short of 515 pilots and we cannot afford to lose any of them. Let us, therefore, hope that nuts and bolts of the system will be tightened and the nation will be spared the painful news of crashing of air force planes in future.
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