Engine seizure is the most likely reason for the tragedy, according to an ongoing inquiry into the first-ever crash of the Indian Air Force’s light combat aircraft (LCA-Mk-1) Tejas three months ago, two officials aware of the matter said on Monday.
The domestically built single-engine fighter plane crashed on March 12 close to Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, only minutes after it participated in a tri-services exercise designed to highlight India’s progress toward self-reliance in the defense manufacturing industry. The pilot made a safe ejection.
“It seems that an oil pump malfunction was the cause of the engine seizure,” one of the officials stated, requesting anonymity. Indeed, the accident inquiry court has not yet been adjudicated.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) has acquired two Mk-1 squadrons, and in July 2016, it inducted its first Tejas aircraft. The aircraft involved in the crash belonged to the 40 Mk-1 planes that the IAF had introduced in both the initial operational clearance (IOC) and the more sophisticated final operational clearance (FOC) configurations, which were the earliest LCA versions.
After the March 12 incident, the IAF ordered an inspection of every aircraft. The entire fleet of LCA Mk-1 underwent safety inspections. The second officer stated that no safety concerns had been discovered with the fighter. The F404 engine from US company GE Aerospace powers the LCA Mk-1. The engine failure ruined the LCA Mk-1’s record of accident-free flight.
Air Marshal Anil Chopra (retd), a former director general of the Centre for Air Power Studies, stated that the reliability of contemporary jet engines is good and that such failures are uncommon. Twelve years ago, Chopra became the first air marshal in history to jump from a fighter plane when his Mirage 2000 engine failed. “Safety is paramount for IAF, and it will get to the bottom of the matter,” he said.
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