Flights delayed by 3 hours as Jaguar skids off runway

PUNE: Air traffic at the Lohegaon civil airport was disrupted for three hours on Friday after a combat aircraft skidded off the runway while landing, and hit the barriers.
This is the second incident in the last fortnight where operations at the civil airport were suspended due to disruptions caused by the Indian Air Force. On July 28, the officials suspended operations at the civil airport for two hours after a supersonic Sukhoi 30 MKI was forced landing minutes after it took off from the air base.
Although no damage to the aircraft has been reported, the runway was blocked for civil aircrafts between 9 am to noon.However, it is not yet known as to whether this incident has caused some damage to the runway. Officials at the Pune airport said they are still awaiting to hear from the IAF.
According to officials of the civil airport, all the four flights during the period — Indian Airlines (Delhi via Mumbai), Jet Airways (Mumbai), Air Sahara (Mumbai, Delhi) were delayed, and could only land after the Air Traffic Control cleared the runway.
While passengers for the morning flights waited endlessly at the airport, airport officials said incoming flights were informed on time about the problem.
Senior IAF officials are totally tight-lipped about the incident. Sources, however, informed a Jaguar from the ‘Dragon’ squadron skidded off the runway while trying to land without a parachute. Fighter aircrafts normally use a parachute while landing to decelerate its momentum.
“The incident happened at about 8.55 am, when this aircraft went and hit into the arresting barriers put on the side of the runway,� a source said, adding the fighter aircraft was partially stranded on the runway, as a result off which civil operations had to be suspended.
According to information available, the Jaguars were undertaking a runway-friction test when the incident occurred. While two Jaguars did a smooth landing without the parachutes, the third one skidded off the runway.
While flight lieutenant Anupama Monga (IAF’s public relation officer) said she is not authorised to speak anything on the issue, chief operations officer Group Captain Girish Chaini was unavailable throughout the day despite repeated attempts.
BOX: A high-level team from the IAF headquarters in New Delhi is arriving at the Lohegaon air base on Monday for a detailed inspection of the Jaguars.
While the exact purpose of the visit is still not known, the Jaguars, after the Migs, are in the limelight following a series of crashes in recent times.
The Pune air base, apart from the two Sukhoi 30 MKI squadrons, also houses the Jaguar Squadron 6, also referred to as the Dragon in IAF’s lingo.
It may be recalled here that a team of experts from the British Aerospace, the original manufacturers, and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, had examined all Jaguar fighter aircrafts in May-June, which were grounded for some time following four repeated crashes.
While five aircrafts were found "faulty", and sent in for a complete overhauling, the rest were cleared for flying, an IAF spokesman said in New Delhi.