http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEA20060627014640&Page=A&Title=Southern+News+-+Andhra+Pradesh&Topic=0

Seminar on MiG 29 aircraft
Tuesday June 27 2006 12:08 IST

VISAKHAPATNAM: Air Marshal PS Ahluwalia on Monday called for increased coordination between the Defence Ministry, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, RCMA and DGAQA to enhance the technical reliability of the aircraft engines used by Indian Air Force.

He said the engine serviceability could be enhanced so that 15 flying hours per airplane are available for pilots’ training and reiterated that sufficient attention was being paid to safety of RD-33 engines.

Air Marshal Ahluwalia was speaking at a seminar on ‘Strategic Initiative to Improve Serviceability of RD-33 Engines of MIG 29 Aircraft’ on HAL premises at Sunabeda in Koraput district recently.

Ahluwalia said the MIG series aircraft achieved international standards with the application of indigenous and foreign technologies. However, an analysis of the aircraft accidents, over the last three decades, found that 45 percent of them are due to technical defects, 45 percent due to human error and 10 percent due to other reasons. Hence, the need for higher levels of coordination between government agencies, he elucidated.

Air Commodore Murali said the modernisation of RD-33 engines for powering Indian Air Force was a matter of pride for the country.

HAL Managing Director KP Puri, Executive Director SM Kapoor and General Manager JK Mohapatra participated.