Indian Defense Minister Undertakes MiG-21 Flight

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, August 01, 2003

Indian Defense Minister Undertakes MiG-21 Flight

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Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes on Friday undertook a 25-minute sortie on a MIG 21 in bid to dispel fear about the Air Force's fighter jet dubbed "flying coffin" following a series of accidents.

The 73-year-old minister accompanied Wing Commander N. Harish during the flight over Kurukshetra and other towns of Haryana in north India before touching down safely at 10:10 a.m., local mediasaid.

This is Fernandes' second flight in a fighter in a month after his first sortie in a Sukhoi version from Pune.

The flight was delayed by two hours following rain in the morning and was undertaken under cloudy conditions.

Fernandes told reporters after the flight, "There are attempts to degrade these fighters and I want to dispel apprehensions aboutits safety."

He said he undertook the sortie also to find out what problems pilots face in the plane.

The aircraft, flying at a speed of 750 km per hour performed aerobatic maneuvers including wingover, barrel roll and steep turn.

The flight was primarily aimed at making a point to growing critics of MiG-21, the aging and accident-prone jet that forms themainstay of some 16 IAF combat squadrons, or almost half of its total combat fleet.

The IAF has lost 163 MiG-21s since the jet was inducted in the force in 1963, and 102 of them since 1990. Fifteen MiG-21s have crashed since January 2002. A total of 45 pilots have lost their lives in the accidents.

The IAF's problems have been compounded by MiG-21 crashes over residential areas that have claimed the lives of over a dozen civilians.

The IAF is currently upgrading the 125 MiG-21s to keep them flying till the end of the decade, but experts say this will not make the demanding aircraft safer for rookie pilots, who have been involved in a majority of the crashes.

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