June 2012 - Indian Airforce

Imagine an unsuspecting bunch of Armoured
Corps personnel, engrossed in live firing at a
range in the North West sector. Tanks and APCs
milling around, kicking up a lot of dust and the RSO
trying his best to peer through the obscurities, to
keep track of results of firing. It was quite akin to
a real battle scenario and the prevailing visibility
over the range did not make matters any easier
for any one. They had a task at hand and were
doing their best to get the maximum out of the
exercise underway. Little did they know that an
unpleasant surprise was already beginning to
unfold and that their exercise was about to turn a
lot more realistic.
orbiting endlessly in an attempt to pick up the
targets. The local SU had tried its best to guide
the hapless pilot but to no avail. Finally, good
sense prevailed and he decided to call off the
mission. The RSO too heaved a sigh of relief and
was happy to hear the pilot change over to the
SU channel for the trip back to base.
Since the range had not been sighted, the
return navigation too started off on an uncertain
footing. Probably the pilot put all his trust in his
on-board systems and hoped that eventually the
SU would pick him up and help him get back
home. Nothing wrong with that, but it certainly
Some distance to the West, a lone MiG-27
was involved in heavy armament work over the
Air Force portion of the firing range, with 2 x 500
Kg bombs. Though a simple enough exercise,
things did not seem to be going well that day.
The problem was understandable and had been
experienced by many pilots in the past. The
problem was that the pilot was not able to make
contact with the range or any familiar feature in
its close vicinity. In such sorties, fuel is always at
a premium so one does not enjoy the luxury of
would have been wiser to confess that one was
heading back and was somewhat unsure of his
ground position. Time ticked away. The RSO in
the meantime prepared to close the range and
call it a day which had been quite uneventful till
the small aberration, a little while ago. All of a
sudden the aircraft that had just left range, piped
up on R/T announcing that he now had the
target in contact and was seeking permission
to go in for ‘direct live’. Fuel considerations
seemed to have weighed on the RSO’s mind as
INDIAN AIR FORCE 2 0 1 2 J u n e Aerospace Safety 3