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Topic: The Indian 'Flying Coffin'
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Bronx 
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India is to retain its controversial MiG fighter aircraft, dubbed the "flying coffin" after a series of fatal crashes. At least 50 pilots have died in more than 100 MiG crashes over the last six years.
A Defense Ministry official said there were no plans to phase out use of the jets. Work on upgrading the MiG-21s will continue and the entire fleet will be upgraded by 2005.
Defence Minister George Fernandes blamed the series of MiG crashes on human error, technical defects and collisions with birds.
He said the planes were checked before each flight and that every aircraft is "certified fully air worthy before a flight is undertaken."
"But fighter-flying, by its very nature, has certain inherent risks, which cannot be avoided altogether," Mr Fernandes said.
Nine pilots died in 20 MiG aircraft crashes last year, while in 2001, 15 pilots were killed in 27 accidents. The fleet of 125 MiG-21 aircraft forms the mainstay of India's air force but frequent accidents have raised concerns about its safety. Most of the MiGs that crash are repaired and put back into service.
http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,31500-12356830,00.html
[ 02 July 2003, 12:28: Message edited by: Bronx ]
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Posts: 9347 (1.5 per day) | From: Gloucestershire, England | Registered: Feb 2002 (6212 days)
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-gbotto600-
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No matter how many upgrades the Mig21 gets, it would take a massive redesign of the entire structure to have the plane even worth having in the 21st century
Even matched against Western planes that are nearly the same age, the Mig21 would lose
its too old and its time for it to be retired to training or completely done away with
India has enough sophistication that they can design their own fighter now, cheap-skates ....
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Decima MAS
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When ancient Rome was near defeat,
the invincible Tenth Legion was raised:
they beat the barbarians on the battlefield
and Rome gained peace with honour again.
When the traitor, on September the eighth,
left the fatherland in infamy,
the Tenth Flotilla was raised from the sea
and it brought weapons at the cry for honour!
Oh our Tenth Flotilla,
you that mocked England,
you victorious on Alexandria,
Malta, Souda and Gibraltar,
you already victorious upon the sea,
now even on the dry land
you will win!
To you Italian ships, stolen from us
not in battle but by treason,
and to you, our prisoners and dead brothers,
we swear:
we swear that we'll came back,
let this be God's and the Flag's will.
We swear that we'll fight
until we obtain an honourable peace!
Posts: 7713 (1.19 per day) | From: NJ | Registered: May 2001 (6474 days)
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