IAF Sukhoi-30 jets have a design flaw: Air Chief NAK Browne

[Bhai Zakir]

IAF Sukhoi-30 jets have a design flaw: Air Chief NAK Browne

Pune: Air Chief NAK Browne on Saturday said the IAF has identified a "design flaw" with the Russian-made supersonic fighter aircraft Sukhoi-30 though nothing is wrong with its "airworthiness".

"We have identified a Fly-By-Wire problem with the aircraft. It is a design issue and we have taken it up with the designing agency," he told reporters on the sidelines of a function held to mark Golden Jubilee celebrations of Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) in Pune.

Referring to the December 13, 2011 crash of a Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter aircraft near Pune, the Air Chief said that more checks were being implemented to ensure that such incidents do not happen again.

The aircraft had crashed at Wade Bholai village soon after it took off from Lohegaon air base. Two pilots of the fighter plane managed to bail out safely.

"There is nothing wrong with the aircraft or its airworthiness. I have myself flown the aircraft," he said.

On proposed acquisition of the French Rafale aircraft, Browne said the negotiations in this regard were progressing well and could be finalised by the end of the financial year.

In reply to a question, he said the IAF had an "elaborate plan" at hand to change over from old to new fleets.

Earlier, the Air Chief released a postal stamp brought out by the Department of Post and Telegraph to commemorate the AFMC Golden Jubilee.

IAF Sukhoi-30 jets have a design flaw: Air Chief NAK Browne - India News - IBNLive

 

[SR 71 Blackbird]

Yes,there is problem in the redundancy control system of FBW.

IAF has solved this problem by increasing the servicing of FBW from every 200 flying hours to every 100 flying hours.

 

[acetophenol]

Its a gud thing that IAF has identified the problem and has cured it. Also,its noteworthy that the crash rates are lowering.

All salutes to the heroes of the ground,the men who service these machines!

 

[INDIAISM]

Dude you will soon see many trolls from otherside of the border taking a jibe at Su30 Mki without going through the entire article....

On Topic-Good thing is that their is no problem with the air worthiness of the aircraft and seconly now we know what's the problem is..

 

[Abingdonboy]

He may also be referring to the design flaw issue that resulted in the first ever IAF MKI crash that was due to a failure of the FBW system that was triggered inadvertently by one of the pilots. Apparently the switches to do such a thing were located in an awkard location in close proximity to other critical switches that were needed to be used but were used "blind" so that the pilot actually had extreme difficulty in knowing what switches he was operating.

 

[GORKHALI]

Dude you will soon see many trolls from otherside of the border taking a jibe at Su30 Mki without going through the entire article....

On Topic-Good thing is that their is no problem with the air worthiness of the aircraft and seconly now we know what's the problem is..

Well my friend,Even F 22 the world most advance plane had flaws,yea toh uske saamne lalu hai

 

[TaimiKhan]

Dude you will soon see many trolls from otherside of the border taking a jibe at Su30 Mki without going through the entire article....

On Topic-Good thing is that their is no problem with the air worthiness of the aircraft and seconly now we know what's the problem is..

Before any trolls could come from across the border, you did the act of trolling yourself.

Plus before commenting on us, kindly do look into your own actions.

This time i am letting you go, next time infraction will follow. Don't try to be a troll fatwa giver when you are yourself a troll.

And don't reply, just keep to the topic at hand.

 

[khail007]

Yes,there is problem in the redundancy control system of FBW.

IAF has solved this problem by increasing the servicing of FBW from every 200 flying hours to every 100 flying hours.

IMO, increasing maintenance cycles is not a permanent solution. IAF will have to engage the designing agency with full R&D to overcome such design problem. It is not just a matter of machine design but also a concern about the human life who braves to operate such machine. However credit goes to IAF and the professionalism of its members for identifying such complicated and hidden problem, which other operators in the world were not able to.

 

[Abingdonboy]

IMO, increasing maintenance cycles is not a permanent solution. IAF will have to engage the designing agency with full R&D to overcome such design problem. It is not just a matter of machine design but also a concern about the human life who braves to operate such machine. However credit goes to IAF and the professionalism of its members for identifying such complicated and hidden problem, which other operators in the world were not able to.

If you read the article that is exactly what is being done!

 

[Nishan_101]

Can't believe this?

 

[Ambitious.Asian]

Can't believe this?

Ripley's Believe it or not

 

[tvsram1992]

toe kya ? 12 years , 3 crashes(may be this has something to with it) good record , successful front-line aircraft , excellent record in exercises and trails , good no. of flight hours , still better than any fighter in our enemies inventory ....

 

[The A-5]

toe kya ? 12 years , 3 crashes(may be this has something to with it) good record , successful front-line aircraft , excellent record in exercises and trails , good no. of flight hours , still better than any fighter in our enemies inventory ....

Only 1 FBW failure in 10 years of service, maybe Browne saab is drunk, but isn't this supposed to
be a software problem? The occurance of a flight danger due to the system has been very rare,
if there is a real "design" flaw with it, wouldn't it have given way more often than that?

Other 2 crashes were due to pilot error and foreign object damage to the engine respectively, nothing
wrong with the aircraft on these 2 crashes. Doesn't turn any tables though, this statement, MKI is one
of the safest fighter aircraft ever built.

 

[harpoon]

News like this should be handled with care rather than going all out in media.

 

[zeus]

Not one but Two Su-30mki has been lost due to Fly-By-Wire problems and 1 was lost due to engine fire due to leaking fuel pump , first crashed due to wrong button activated leading to Fly-By-Wire failure but it should have allowed a recovery but that never happen due to fault in Fly-By-Wire, and in second one aircraft stopped responding to pilots and was out of control leading to crash .