Abingdonboy
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In 2012 I believe it was the IAF recorded the best flight safety record in its history with 0.22 per 10,000 flying hours- very much in line with flight safety rates of modern Air forces.
One cannot point to one single factor as the sole reason for this success as it is very much a contribution of factors- improved ground/preventative maintenance (IAF has upgraded their BRDs, MRO capabilities in India have improved and work with OEMs on reducing crashes has increased), improved training of the IAF's human element (both pilots and ground crew have access to far improved training aids from simulators to improved training modules and such not to mention the phasing out of older, crash prone, air frames (MiG-21s/27s) and replacing them with modern birds (MKI, PC-7 and HAWK AJT).
This ghost will finally be laid to rest once all MiG-21s and -27s are out of service and replaced by the modern and safer LCA and Rafale. The crash rate towards the end of this decade should be very low...
One cannot point to one single factor as the sole reason for this success as it is very much a contribution of factors- improved ground/preventative maintenance (IAF has upgraded their BRDs, MRO capabilities in India have improved and work with OEMs on reducing crashes has increased), improved training of the IAF's human element (both pilots and ground crew have access to far improved training aids from simulators to improved training modules and such not to mention the phasing out of older, crash prone, air frames (MiG-21s/27s) and replacing them with modern birds (MKI, PC-7 and HAWK AJT).
This ghost will finally be laid to rest once all MiG-21s and -27s are out of service and replaced by the modern and safer LCA and Rafale. The crash rate towards the end of this decade should be very low...
MKI fighter jocks still log more hours on their birds (270-300 range) than most of their contemporaries in Western AFs and an IAF and the mandatory number of hours flown by rookies on the Hawk AJT have actually increased in the past 2 years not reduced.It also could mean that certain intense flying hours have been reduced for types now fully inducted into the fleet.