By IANS,
New Delhi : A total of 66 Indian military personnel were killed in 54 accidents involving Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopters and jets from 2009, Defence Minister A.K. Antony said Monday.
Antony told the Lok Sabha that the government had taken several remedial measures to check the accidents that had taken place almost all over India.
According to a statement laid in the house, the crashed planes include Sukhoi SU 30, MiG 27, MiG 21, Sea Harrier, Kiran and Jaguar jets as well as Dhruv, Cheetah, MI-8 and Chetak helicopters.
Among the places where most crashes took place included Hashimara (West Bengal), Pune, Barmer, Jodhpur, Goa, Guwahati, Gwalior, Jamnagar and Kalaikunda.
Antony said the IAF had taken steps to improve aviation safety by streamlining accident reporting procedures, quality audits of aircraft fleets, and ways to prevent bird hits.
Senior aviation safety functionaries from IAF have visited all flying bases to apprise and caution the operating units about the causes of the accidents, the minister said.
“Accident prevention programmes by the services have been given an added thrust to identify risk prone/hazardous areas specific to the aircraft fleets.”