New Delhi: The Indian Air Force’s (IAF) Tejas fighter aircraft fleet is undergoing a “maintenance check” to determine the reason for the 7 February incident that occurred while one of the fighters was taking off from a base.
The incident caused severe damage to the aircraft frame, as ThePrint reported earlier. However, it occurred during take-off, not landing.
Sources in the defence and security establishment said a decision is yet to be made on the frame of the aircraft involved in the incident, adding that a cost calculation and other assessments will be carried out before deciding whether to salvage it or write it off.
The IAF and the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), are working together as part of the Board of Inquiry (BoI) to investigate the incident.
“The team will then decide on remedial measures. This could be fleet-specific or just aircraft-specific,” a source said, adding that the fleet is undergoing maintenance checks.
The Tejas fighters will not take to the skies during this period, until absolutely necessary.
Giving details of the 7 February incident, the source said it was a “ground incident”, which means that it occurred while the aircraft was on the ground, not while it was flying.
Such developments, said sources, are officially categorised either as crash, accident or incident.
In this case it has been categorised as an incident.
The preliminary assessment is that a sudden technical issue cropped up when the aircraft was on a take-off run. The technical glitch, it is suspected, was related to the brakes which caused a tyre burst. This led to the aircraft to steer off the runway.
The pilot did not eject but escaped with ‘minor injuries’.
HAL in a statement to the stock exchange said “there has been no reported crash of the LCA Tejas” and “the event in question was a minor technical incident on ground”.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)