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Too Expensive To Maintain And Too Dangerous To Fly
Strategy Page ^ | 7/13/2010 | James Dunnigan

Posted on 07/15/2010 5:28:14 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld

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To: sonofstrangelove
India lost 250 MiG-21s to accidents between 1991 and 2003.

That's more than 20 per year...holy smokes!

21 posted on 07/15/2010 10:13:06 PM PDT by JRios1968 (The real first rule of Fight Club: don't invite Chuck Norris...EVER)
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To: chipper dave; F15Eagle; JRios1968; sonofstrangelove

Point one when using Strategypage for statistics-it’s the last place you should look at. The figure 250 refers to the totla number of IAF crashes, not the Mig-21 type, which would have literally killed off the fleet. But then the folks at Strategypage don’t really need much of accuracy.

http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/sep/11newssp.htm
http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Aircraft/Current/602-MiG-Suresh.html


22 posted on 07/15/2010 10:26:46 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
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To: The Free Engineer; truthguy

Umm, there’s no real Indian ‘metallurgy’ involved here since the Mig-21/27s were all built under license using Soviet equipment. These aircraft have had poor safety records the world over including the USSR-which got poorer once the USSR bit the dust.

India has also license built the Anglo-French Jaguar and newer Russian Su-30s-which have far better safety records than the early Migs.


23 posted on 07/15/2010 10:33:14 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
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To: sukhoi-30mki

Thank you for clearing this up.

:)


24 posted on 07/15/2010 10:49:27 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
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To: chipper dave; sonofstrangelove

>>> “since 1963, and has put about 800 into service. But 42 percent were subsequently lost due to accidents.”

Holy Cr8p! I would rather go up with a handful of balloons! ;-)

Percentage-wise that’s a little worse then the Luftwaffe’s experience with the Lockheed F-104 Lawn Dart, but not by much.


25 posted on 07/15/2010 11:50:35 PM PDT by tlb
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To: tlb

The Luftwaffe lost 30 percent of its planes and Canada lost 50 percent of its planes.


26 posted on 07/15/2010 11:56:23 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
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To: sonofstrangelove

I might have mentioned this before, but there was an article sometime back about the Constant Peg program which had USAF pilots flying “acquired” Soviet fighter craft in test missions. Few liked the MiG-21. Nobody, NOBODY liked flying the MiG-23/27.

from http://www.airforce-magazine.com/MagazineArchive/Pages/2007/April%202007/0407peg.aspx

“The MiG-23 did not have that problem [acceleration], as it was designed for speed—but it was unstable and difficult to fly. Constant Peg pilots would typically fly MiG-23s only after they had acquired extensive experience on the other Soviet models. “The guys really didn’t like flying the 23,” said Manclark. “They were scared of them.””


27 posted on 07/16/2010 2:25:32 AM PDT by DemforBush (Serpentine, Shel! SERPENTINE!)
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To: tlb

Makes me wonder if the Indians teach their pilots how to land their planes once they take off. lol


28 posted on 07/16/2010 3:46:49 AM PDT by chipper dave
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To: F15Eagle

“Wow, widowmaker.”

You’re telling me brother. That’s 1.7 planes per month.


29 posted on 07/16/2010 2:19:26 PM PDT by Owl558 ("Those who remember George Satayana are doomed to repeat him")
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To: chipper dave

17 of India’s 30 Harriers have crashed. 56%


30 posted on 07/16/2010 2:29:10 PM PDT by MediaMole
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To: MediaMole
"17 of India’s 30 Harriers have crashed. 56%"

Geez, why bother buying anything. They are worse on these planes than their enemies would be. lol

31 posted on 07/16/2010 3:05:39 PM PDT by chipper dave
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To: sonofstrangelove

It’s easy to loose 50% when you only have two.


32 posted on 07/16/2010 3:13:52 PM PDT by Professional Engineer (Conservative States of America has a nice ring to it.)
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To: Oztrich Boy
Because the US counterpart was so much better

The accident rater for the F-104 was about 27 per 100,000 hours, about a tenth of the Indian rate for the Mig 21.

33 posted on 07/16/2010 3:20:15 PM PDT by Non-Sequitur
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To: MediaMole; chipper dave

The Harrier/Sea Harrier has a less than flattering safety record in almost all militaries its served with-

http://www.ejection-history.org.uk/Aircraft_by_Type/SeaHarrier.htm
http://www.ejection-history.org.uk/Aircraft_by_Type/HARRIER/Sea_Harrier_Spain.htm
http://www.ejection-history.org.uk/Aircraft_by_Type/INDIA/SEa-Harrier.htm
http://www.stripes.com/news/pilots-defend-harrier-jet-1.1161/comments-7.1323


34 posted on 07/17/2010 4:03:27 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
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