IAF chopper crash: India lost 46 personnel in air accidents in six years

There have been more than 10 incidents every alternate year in five years from 2014-15 to 2018-19, data shows

The crash of the Indian Air Force (IAF) Mi-17V5 helicopter, in which Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat, his wife, and 11 other persons were killed on Wednesday, has drawn attention to other air accidents involving IAF aircraft.

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Seven IAF aircraft have cras­hed in the last two years, including the Mirage 2000 accident in Madhya Pradesh, Parliament was told on December 3. Data from 2014 to 2019, which was presented before Parliament by Shripad Naik, then minister of state for defence, in July 2019, shows 46 IAF personnel were killed in air accidents from 2014-15 to July 2019. Of them, 27 were service personnel, 12 were pilots, and seven were crew members.

Data also shows there has been no significant fall in incidents of crashes involving Ind­ian Air Force aircraft during this period. There have been more than 10 incidents every alternate year in the five years from 2014-15 to 2018-19. Most of these crashes involved fighter air­craft, followed by trainer aircraft.