'MIG decking could make Pak bold’

MUMBAI: The crash of an Indian Air Force (IAF) MiG-21 (Bis) fighter at Jalandhar on Friday is one of the several mishaps involving IAF jets in the recent past. While the authorities are generally quick to cite either pilot error or bird hits for the spate of accidents, many feel there could be other contributory factors such as the quality of maintenance of the planes.Friday's mishap even prompted Air Chief Marshal S. Krishnaswamy to immediately ground six squadrons of MiG-21 (Bis) fighters. Speaking to the TNN from Pune on Saturday 81-year-old Hrushikesh Moolgavkar who was chief of air staff from 1976 to 1978 supported the move to ground the jets, but warned that it could make Pakistan more aggressive. Excerpts: Soon after a MiG-21 (Bis) fighter crashed into a Bank of Rajasthan building at Jalandhar on Saturday killing eight persons the IAF immediately grounded six squadrons of MiGs of a similar variant. Do you recall the air force of having embarked on such a step earlier. Do you justify such a strong move? To the best of my knowledge I think this is the first time the IAF has grounded six squadrons of its fighters. This means that nearly 20 per cent of its fleet cannot operate for the time being. Though such a step appeared inevitable, I can say at the same time it was not a plus point as it will cause a lot of concern both to pilots and technicians. One needs to examine what impact such a strong measure will have on pilots. You say the grounding means that about 20 per cent of IAF's fleet cannot operate for the time being. Apart from causing serious concern to pilots and technicians will it have any other repercussions? I feel it could encourage Pakistan to become aggressive. There are reports that the grounding is for 10 days. But, 10 days is a pretty long time in military standards. If Pakistan takes advantage of this si tuation and decides to become aggressive I think the grounded jets will be put back into service. Anything can happen and the IAF will immediately respond to the crisis. Aviation experts feel that the overall maintenance standards in the IAF leave much to be desired. According to them the shoddy standards could be one of the main reasons for the large number of crashes. Can you please comment? I do not agree. If the maintenance was poor, then why is it there are not so many mishaps involving other types of fighters like the Jaguars and Mirages. The IAF has excellent maintenance facilities. Please remember majority of the crashes involve only the MiGs which needs to be probed into. Apart from India, Russia, Iraq, Libya and China also fly the MiGs. We have to find out from these countries whether they are facing problems with their planes. If not then the question arises why only India is having problems with its MiGs. More importantly we have to look into the manufacturing procedures at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). It has to be an independent inquiry. I am in no way suggesting that HAL not doing its job properly, but at the same time one has to ensure they are not adopting any short cut methods. Don't you think that the absence of an advanced jet trainer (AJT) could be one of the reasons for the spate of mishaps? In Moscow, MiG's deputy chief designer Vladimr Barkovsky has blamed the delay in the induction of trainer for the large number of accidents. Please comment. Yes, I certainly believe that the AJT is long overdue. I finished with the air force 32 years ago and since then the government has been talking about the need for trainer. If the AJT is acquired and the training gap is filled then I do not think there will be much cause for worry. Don't you think the spate of mishaps have considerably affected IAF's image abroad? I do not think it has resulted in flattering image! But, at the same time I do not think we should really worry about world opinion.