Notable Accidents
A Su-30MKI aircraft crashed on 30 April 2009 in the Pokhran region of Rajasthan, at Rajmathai village, around 170 km from Jaisalmer, after it took off from Pune during a routine sortie, killing one of its two pilots. Defence minister A. K. Antony, stated that the likely cause of the crash was "failure of the fly-by-wire system". The Sukhoi fleet was then grounded for around three weeks. However it was found that the crash was caused by the incorrect position of critical switches behind the pilots and outside their field of view. The aircraft crashed when a critical switch was toggled disabling the Flight control system. Wing Commander PS Nara was killed in the mishap, while Wing Commander SV Munje was injured. Critical switches identified by the accident investigators were inhibited.
Another Su-30MKI crashed on 30 November 2009 in Jathegaon, about 40 km from Jaisalmer after a fire warning. Both aircrew ejected safely. As a result the entire fleet of Su-30MKIs was grounded while the cause of the problem was investigated. It was attributed to accidental ingestion of a foreign material in the engine intake.
A Su-30MKI crashed around 1:30 pm on 13 December 2011; both the pilots bailed out safely. The aircraft had taken off from the Lohegaon Indian Air Force Base on the outskirts of Pune, crashing at Wade-Bholai village, 20 kilometres from Pune. Preliminary reports said that the crash was due to a malfunction in the fly-by-wire system.
Read more about this topic: Sukhoi Su-30MKI
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