A single seater Sea Harrier crashed at Dabolim airport at 1115 hrs on Christmas Eve while landing leading to the closure of the runway for at least 3 hours. Pilot ejects safely.
PIB version: <At around 1115 hrs today 24 Dec 07, a single seater Sea Harrier fighter aircraft crashed at Dabolim, Goa. The aircraft was on a routine sortie flown by Cdr Janak Bevli, who ejected safely. There has been no loss of any other property or person in the accident. A Board of Inquiry has been ordered to investigate the cause.> http://www.pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=34206 NDTV version: <Sea Harrier crashes in Goa, pilot safe Frankie Fernandes Monday, December 24, 2007 (Panaji) Indian Navy's Sea Harrier fighter aircraft crashed while landing at the Dabolim Naval Air Station in Goa early on Monday. The pilot of the jet was able to eject safely. Dabolim airport runway is closed till afternoon. The Sea Harrier is the Navy's frontline fighter aircraft deployed onboard the aircraft carrier, the INS Viraat. The Harrier, which has one of the highest crash rates among military aircraft flown in India, is considered a tricky aircraft to operate but remains the only carrier borne fighter jet that the Indian Navy operates. The Indian Navy has only a handful of Sea Harriers in service and the loss of even a single jet is considered a big loss since obtaining replacements are no longer possible since the Sea Harrier is no longer operated by any other Navy.> http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20070036783&ch=12/24 /2007%203:21:00%20PM Indianinfo version: <Harrier crashes at Goa airport, flights suspended Monday, December 24, 2007 12:39 [IST] Panaji: A naval Sea Harrier aircraft has crashed at Goa airport leading to the shut down of routine operations at the airport. All airport runway operations have been blocked till 2 pm at least. No casualties or injuries have been reported in the mishap. The pilot of the aircraft managed to eject safely. To ascertain the reasons for this crash, the naval authorities have ordered an inquiry into the incident.> Navy's course of action (recommended): 1. Declare a holiday w.i.e. till Jan 6. 2008 to commisserate the loss of the aircraft. 2. Declare a holiday for flight training for a month after Navy week each year to (a) avoid disrupting Christmas/New year season traffic due to such crashes which border on negligence since the Navy is familiar with the aircraft since 2 decades but has lost half the squadron and many lives due to such crashes and (b) moderate air fares during this peak annual holiday season in Goa by enabling more civilian flights to operate during the hours blocked for flight training.. 3. Initiate long term planning for shifting flight training out of Dabolim to some other naval air station e.g. Karwar, Kochi, Arrakonam etc etc. Recce and transport operations can continue at Dabolim without blocking hours for these operations.