Su 30 MKI: Fuel leak behind engine fire

A fuel leak on board Indias most advanced fighter could have led to the engine fire that caused the Su 30 MKI crash on Monday....

A fuel leak on board Indias most advanced fighter could have led to the engine fire that caused the Su 30 MKI crash on Monday. Investigators,including an HAL engine expert,have reached the site of the crash and sources said a problem with the fuel system was likely to have caused the fire on board the aircraft that forced both pilots to eject.

While the entire fleet of the advanced fighter jet,that numbers over 90 and is based in Pune,Bareilly and Tezpur,still remains on the ground,a senior air force official said the aircraft were likely to take to the skies again on Monday after the preliminary inquiry.

The preliminary inquiry is on and the aircraft could start flying again by Monday. Anyways,the fighters are available for operations if there is any requirement, a senior official said.

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As reported earlier,the entire fighter fleet was grounded after Mondays crash of the HAL-built fighter,the second time in eight months that the fighters have been grounded. After a crash in April,the fighters remained on the ground for over a month while investigators tried to figure out the fault. A defect in the a fly by wire system was found out later.

The IAF,which also suspected an engine defect in Mondays crash,had ceased operations immediately,given that the fighter that went down was a brand new aircraft that had recently been manufactured in India by HAL.

While it may take several weeks before the crash is investigated,the fleet would be allowed to fly again after the preliminary inquiry rules out any major defect in the aircraft. There is no point to fly and lose another aircraft because of the same fault. The aircraft will fly after it has been ascertained that there is no major defect, an IAF officer said.

The IAF has close to 90 of the Su 30 MKI fighters in its inventory and has placed an order for 230 aircraft. Out of this,the majority of 140 fighters would be manufactured or assembled by HAL. The earlier batch of aircraft that have been in operation for the past few years were imported from Russia.

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