Article Posted on : - Aug 04, 2011

Wreckage of a MiG-21 fighter aircraft crashed on Tuesday, soon after taking off from Naal airfield in Bikaner district. PTI Photo

NEW DELHI (PTI): In the last 40 years, the Indian Air Force has lost 1000 aircraft in accidents of which 39 per cent were caused by pilot error.

A Parliamentary Committee report on Wednesday said that, the IAF has lost 999 aircraft since the 1970s and human error and technical defects were the main cause behind these crashes.

One MiG 27 had crashed in Biakaner yesterday in which the pilot was killed.

"In 39.5 per cent of the cases, technical defect is the cause and in 39 per cent of the cases, human error was found to be responsible," the report said.

The Committee was informed by the IAF that of these 999 accidents, 12 cases were being investigated by the service.

Servicing error caused 1.6 per cent of the accidents wheras nine per cent of the crashes were caused by bird hit and the remaining were because of the errors by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

Most of the accidents have involved the MiG series aircraft which are on their way out of service and are planned to be phased out in next four to five years.