“Flying Coffins”: Let them be for the Enemy.

The Aamir Khan starrer film Rang De Basanti is based on a Real life Incident of Flt Lt Abhijit Gadgil. He was a pilot with the IAF with an impeccable flying record. Abhijit died in a MIG-21 crash in Suratgarh, Rajasthan on September 17, 2001. In a letter that his family got days after the inquiry, the Air force officer blamed Abhijit for the crash. This enraged Abhijit’s family which has a tradition of serving the armed forces. His mother Mrs. Kavita Gadgil took an initiative to put up a relentless war against the establishment, his family maintained that the crash occurred due to a snag in the war-bird and not due to Pilot error as mentioned in the inquiry report. Their efforts finally paid off when the Defence ministry finally (and formally) accepted that the crash had not occurred due to Abhijit’s fault. Mrs. Gadgil has formed Abhijit Air Safety Foundation which campaigns for the safety of IAF pilots.


Aviation experts are divided over the actual reasons for the frequent crashes of the MIGs especially the MIG-21.

• Cheap Spare Parts – Russians have accused India of buying low grade spare parts from Ukraine and East European Countries. Indian experts countered this argument by accusing Russia of quoting exorbitant prices for the spares. Some opined that it was a desperate Russian attempt to save Mikoyan Gurevich (MIG) from getting a bad name.
• Bird Hits –Due to the expansion of cities, there are a lot of residential localities and even slums in the vicinity of the Air force Bases, this in turn increases the number of scavenger birds in the area. Maintaining a bird free environment is a major challenge for the IAF.
• Advanced Jet Trainer – The IAF has to train its freshly commissioned officers on the MIG-21s due to absence of the AJTs. There is a long felt need for an AJT without which there is a great rift between getting trained on subsonic trainers and handling a full fledged super-sonic Flying machine like the MIGs. India presently has subsonic Kirans and Intermediate Jet Trainers (IJTs) in its inventory.
• Design of MIG-21 - These are single engined aircrafts and world over the accident rates of this type of aircrafts are more. Some modifications have to be made in them to suit the Indian climatic conditions.

Whenever a MIG crashes there are some knee jerk reactions by the politicians and bureaucrats. Some call for immediate grounding of the MIG-21s, some term them as “flying coffins” and “Widow Makers”. Such reactions which demoralize the Men in Uniform should be avoided

The MIG-21s constitute a major chunk of IAF Flying machines, so grounding them abruptly is not a viable option. Some officers have even praised the MIG-21s for their airworthiness so an urgent and pertinent solution to this problem should be adopted.

• The spare parts that we import and the arms deals should be thoroughly scrutinized by the agencies.
• Airfield Environment Management Committees which have been setup by the government should recommend the steps to be taken to counter the Bird menace. These recommendations should be implemented strictly.
• India has inked a deal with the British Aerospace Systems (BAE) for purchase of 66 Hawk AJTs. This deal also includes training, transfer of technology and building of infrastructure. This was a much awaited decision that was taken. The AJTS should be commissioned and used for training without a delay.
• The IAF and the HAL should work together to solve all the pending issues and to make India a Super-Air-Power.