New Delhi: Dealing a blow to IAF's training of rookie fighter pilots, the Air Force Academy near Hyderabad has grounded the HPT-32 basic trainer aircraft after a crash on July 31 this year and is forced to train them on Kiran Mk II aircraft that they fly after passing out.
"With the HPT-32s not flying, we are now forced to train our pilots on the Kiran Mk II trainers, which the cadets get to fly after passing out from the AFA in their second phase of training," IAF officials said here today. Two instructor pilots were killed when the trainer aircraft crashed near Hyderabad in the crash and the engine of the HPT-32 has been facing problems in the recent past.
The HPT-32 trainers have a take-off speed of around 200 kilometres per hour whereas the Kirans fly at speeds above 500 km per hour.
"The IAF is taking an extra bit of precaution while training the cadets, who have till now trained on the basic trainers as they will now have to experience twice the speed at which they are used to flying," they said.
Before IAF inducted the British-made 'Hawk' Advanced Jet Trainers (AJTs) in early 2008 it had faced a similar situation when its pilots graduated to supersonic MiG-21s after flying sub-sonic Kiran Mk-II aircraft in absence of an AJT.
As per IAF's fighter training programme, the pilots would first train on basic trainers such as the HPT-32 followed by the Intermediate Jet Trainers and Advanced jet Trainers in that order before joining the operational squadrons to fly front-line fighter aircraft.
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