Military Flight Safety

[ashthor]

I am not sure...but check the helmet position.

[Jay]

Almost every serious airforce in the world has full time dedicated solo jet display teams

Netherlands, Belgium, Turkey, Poland have F16 solo display teams
UK, Spain, Germany and Austria have Typhoon solo jet display teams
USAF/USN have F16, F22, F18
IAF has no such formal full time arrangement

That's exactly the point. If IAF wants to do these demo's routinely, won't they be better served with a dedicated cadre to avoid things like this

Trying to bring HAL into this unless it is explicitly proven something on their end led to this outcome is atrocious and will just ensure further lapses on the IAF’s part in the future

Useless or not, it will have a damper , at least for a time when HAL goes in front of potential customers to market the plane. HOW ARE WE NOT GETTING THIS? We cannot afford to compartmentalize our efforts, goals, and practices and hope to win.

[S_Madhukar]

I just feel HAL test pilots should do this showbazi. Right now we need every experienced pilot ready for combat.

I don’t even agree on Tejas marketing when we wait every month for a GE engine to arrive. Walk then run. Once we have our own complete jet then start marketing or at least don’t push the envelope .We try to do Western style corporate tactics without the right structures in place.

[AdityaM]

Shouldn't the FBW have prevented this manoeuvre at low altitudes?

This wasn’t a stall, FBW can prevent exceeding the flight envelope but not CFIT

Arguably it looks like the auto recovery feature of the FCS attempted to regain control at the end hence why there was no ejection (if the pilot was not fully conscious )

The pilot appears to have attempted ejection.
In the video there is a glimpse of chute popping above the flames, but it is soon consumed by them.

Look behind the pole at 45-46 seconds.


https://x.com/sidhshuk/status/1992123979172327665?s=46

[sajaym]

This wasn’t a stall, FBW can prevent exceeding the flight envelope but not CFIT

Arguably it looks like the auto recovery feature of the FCS attempted to regain control at the end hence why there was no ejection (if the pilot was not fully conscious )

The pilot appears to have attempted ejection.
In the video there is a glimpse of chute popping above the flames, but it is soon consumed by them.

Look behind the pole at 45-46 seconds.


https://x.com/sidhshuk/status/1992123979172327665?s=46

Could be... OR could also be that the sheer force of the impact caused the ejection seat mechanism to trigger off partially. I've heard of such an incident in the 1980s when a Sikh pilot's Mig-21 hit the ground during low level manoeuvring and his ejection seat got triggered by the impact and saved him.

But look at the photos!!! The guy is literally scraping the desert floor....and still he thought he could get away with it??? My suggestion to the HAL engineers would be...this is NOT the last this is going to happen....PLEASE update the FBW to automatically trigger the ejection seat in such scenarios.

Because when the jet is that low THERE IS NO WAY that it recovers back. All the previous crashes in similar scenarios prove it....the F-16 Major.Stricklin crash, the 1989 IAF mirage 2000 crash, another French Mirage 2000 crash, the Russian SU-30 crash, the Pakistani F-16 crash, the Polish F-16 crash and now this crash. And of all the pilots only Major Stricklin was smart enough to get out of his jet BEFORE it impacted the ground.

[Cyrano]

Om Shanti to the pilot.
The last manoeuvre was a very tricky one, so close to the ground. Might have caused a few fleeting moments of black out for the pilot and bleeding of kinetic energy to the plane without sufficient height to regain both. The manoeuvre looks like a cork screw turning in two axes, vertical pitch and horizontal yaw axes. Beautiful but risqué.

I think the entire routine is mapped out and checked and rechecked by IAF and by the show organisers before greenlighting. They usually impose a floor height ceiling for the safety of all concerned, except of course for take off, landing and a straight low pass along the runway. This was the second or third day of this routine being performed, not sure if by the same pilot or if there were several pilots taking turns. In any case a tragic mistake happened, the only thing left now is to take the lessons and move on.
May the family find the courage to move on as well.

[gakakkad]

https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2025 ... ht%20hours

Seems like massa lost 80 pilots between 2020-2024 in non combat situation including airshows . Some of those were helos which are dangerous. But f/a 18 seems to have the worst safety record .

[KSingh]

I just feel HAL test pilots should do this showbazi. Right now we need every experienced pilot ready for combat.

I don’t even agree on Tejas marketing when we wait every month for a GE engine to arrive. Walk then run. Once we have our own complete jet then start marketing or at least don’t push the envelope .We try to do Western style corporate tactics without the right structures in place.

This was an IAF jet, why would HAL test pilots be involved?

If the IAF were going to do this stuff they should do it properly like every other serious airforce and have a dedicated solo display team not this ad hoc arrangement

The more one looks at it the more grave the system that allowed this routine to take place seems

The more one looks at it the more one has to ask what oversight was there and who sanctioned a frontline (not full demo) pilot to perform such risky manoeuvres at a public airshow?

Comments below are from a professional pilots forum featuring former fast jet pilots

(Links to comments on the tweet)
https://x.com/ksingh_1469/status/199224 ... 88662?s=46


This isn’t an LCA problem this is an IAF problem and the elephant in the room is they have been coming up short operationally for a while, almost all their recent headline actions have had a degree of operational failure.

It’s high time they release the reports from COI publicly like professional airforces of other countries do:
https://youtu.be/VqGtD-rK3m0?si=vvwAxUD5I5W9vaP8
https://youtu.be/U2PyTwI1vIQ?si=fUBzkO3t-T86ymBt
https://youtu.be/sof1k5DsIrs?si=FnqcYVC9IJbSWnM7
https://youtu.be/owWU3VaMxY0?si=EIdG15LgXooDkd0S
https://youtu.be/hjewU9uN9Iw?si=47SwdREQzr5QVMEL

Many will now try to use innuendos or outright accusations blaming the LCA for this or it will be swept under the rug.

We still don’t really know how the 1st LCA was lost or even the CDs CFIT episode nor do we know what recommendations were made to avoid this happening in the future

Sunlight is the best disinfectant, aviation is unforgiving, cannot hide behind pride and false claims of a need for secrecy. A lesson not learned is a lesson that will be repeated

[AdityaM]

Frame by frame comparison of the routine

https://x.com/osintupdates/status/19922 ... 27887?s=46

[AdityaM]

Analysis of what may have happened

https://youtu.be/p6uchbKDJPY?si=VVQBgWN4Wtdf7aWS

[Cyrano]

[sanjayc]

Slow motion video of how the jet went down

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/jURq5Vn5HSY

[Cyrano]

KSingh Ji,
Can you please lay off blaming IAF, pilots, HAL and what not? Why is it so difficult to trust them in this moment of loss to do the right things, pick the right learnings and improve for the future? It's so easy to be a keyboard warrior...

[Cyrano]

Slow motion video of how the jet went down

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/jURq5Vn5HSY

Thanks for posting this.

Few things I noticed (or may be I'm over interpreting)

As the pilot comes in to the last manoeuvre the nose of the plane is seen going up and down as if it's hesitant for a split second to decide what to do next. Compared to the Singapore routine in which the flying is unhesitant and the plane engages sharply with clear intent and decisiveness, I feel there is a difference in how it flew in Dubai.

The pilot's head in white helmet seems bent down forward towards the floor of the cockpit where as so close to the ground I would think he would try to keep his head up and be looking around him for maximum situational awareness. Towards the end of the manoeuvre his head even seems to be leaning to the left.

The pilot's left hand _seems_ to be floating in the middle and front towards the control column, instead of being on the throttle which is on the left side and positioned slightly towards the back of the cockpit relatively speaking.

Lastly the Singapore routine has the engine firing up to increase thrust as the plane is coming out of the manoeuvre but in Dubai the engine is not powering up again as evidenced by the lack of red flame indicating a hot engine at full power providing max thrust. Perhaps the pilot was no longer able to push the throttle since by this moment he was already in a state of partial lack of consciousness or was disoriented. The wings levelled but no increased thrust from the engine until the moment of impact.

There was way too much going on so close to the ground which exceeded human limits to sense, process so fast and act , and the machine to respond to the pilot's input and fly back into the safety envelope.

This is what I could glean from watching multiple videos of the crash.

[Cyrano]

I just feel HAL test pilots should do this showbazi. Right now we need every experienced pilot ready for combat.

I don’t even agree on Tejas marketing when we wait every month for a GE engine to arrive. Walk then run. Once we have our own complete jet then start marketing or at least don’t push the envelope .We try to do Western style corporate tactics without the right structures in place.

Competent test pilots are even harder to come by than regular fighter pilots.

Agree on Tejas export dreams though. With the current engine, we will need unkil's approval to export to any country, even if it were to the US itself. Our participation in air shows is to increase Bharat's brand equity and soft power flexing. It will continue with regular IAF pilots despite the Dubai accident. Hopefully with better preparation and improved training and flying habits.

[drnayar]

Analysis of what may have happened

https://youtu.be/p6uchbKDJPY?si=VVQBgWN4Wtdf7aWS

[youtube]p6uchbKDJPY[/youtube

Good explanation ! same manoeuvre was done by LCA at Singapore airshow in 2022

[KSingh]

Analysis of what may have happened

https://youtu.be/p6uchbKDJPY?si=VVQBgWN4Wtdf7aWS

What I’ve assumed from the start- the pilot was not fully conscious in the last part of that routine

I have to keep making the point that the system that signed off on a routine that most experienced fighter pilots I’ve seen comment on this are saying is dangerous is the issue.

Negative G is very unusual and is rarely experienced by frontline pilots, it has almost no value in tactical flying

Remember when you see clips of Singapore 2022, that was a test pilot.

Frontline pilots trying to replicate the routine that test pilots have been doing until now, who signed off on that?

[KSingh]

A day after a Tejas jet crashed at an airshow in Dubai, killing the pilot, there is no move to 'ground ' the fleet of indigenous fighter jets for precautionary checks.
@thetribunechd @IAF_MCC
#TejasMk1A #Aircraft #TejasMk1
Link
tribuneindia.com/news/top-headl…

https://x.com/ajaynewsman/status/199241 ... 34359?s=46


No groundings says it all, they know what went wrong and it wasn’t a jet problem

[Amber G.]

Russian Knights Dedicate Dubai Airshow Flight to Fallen Indian Pilot Namansh Syal

Story: (Syal, a 37-year-old test pilot from Himachal Pradesh, died on November 21 when his LCA Tejas Mk-1 crashed during a low-altitude display at the Dubai Airshow. Eyewitnesses saw him steer the jet away from spectators before impact, and a Court of Inquiry is now investigating. His wife, fellow IAF officer Wing Commander Afshan Akhtar, saluted him in uniform alongside their young daughter as his remains returned home for full military honors. The IAF praised his courage and skill, while the Russian gesture highlighted the deep bonds among pilots worldwide.)

<Video Clip> Russian Aerobatic Team Honours Indian Air Force Wg Cdr Namansh Syal With Final-Day Tribute at Dubai Airshow 2025. The Missing Man Formation

[Cyrano]

The American team gave some lame excuse and left the air show after the LCA crash!

[SSridhar]

Analysis of what may have happened

https://youtu.be/p6uchbKDJPY?si=VVQBgWN4Wtdf7aWS

Very logical explanation.

[KSingh]

Russian Knights Dedicate Dubai Airshow Flight to Fallen Indian Pilot Namansh Syal

Story: (Syal, a 37-year-old test pilot from Himachal Pradesh, died on November 21 when his LCA Tejas Mk-1 crashed during a low-altitude display at the Dubai Airshow. Eyewitnesses saw him steer the jet away from spectators before impact, and a Court of Inquiry is now investigating. His wife, fellow IAF officer Wing Commander Afshan Akhtar, saluted him in uniform alongside their young daughter as his remains returned home for full military honors. The IAF praised his courage and skill, while the Russian gesture highlighted the deep bonds among pilots worldwide.)

<Video Clip> Russian Aerobatic Team Honours Indian Air Force Wg Cdr Namansh Syal With Final-Day Tribute at Dubai Airshow 2025. The Missing Man Formation

This is a complete lie, they didn’t do anything of the sort

They (and make others at the show) went ahead with their display as an Indian jet was still smouldering and an Indian pilot was being placed into a body bag

A USAF team actually did call off their display

That many (boomer) Indians have amplified this Russian disinformation shows how vulnerable they are to such propaganda

[chetak]

VI@WA

One Tejas crash.
One pilot gone.
And suddenly…
X is On Fire..
LinkedIn on Fire.

I saw the videos.
I saw the fake outrage.
I saw people milking tragedy for Trending.
Circulating crash clips like gossip.
Dropping “RIP” posts like Instagram filters.

Where was this energy for 50 years?
Where was the concern when 400+ MiGs fell?
Where was the outrage when 170+ pilots died?
Where were the hashtags when families shattered?

Silence.
Complete silence.

Because those jets were imported.
Those crashes were “normal.”

But the moment one Made-in-India jet goes down?

Suddenly everyone wakes up.
Suddenly everyone has an opinion.
Suddenly Tejas becomes a punching bag.
Suddenly Indian scientists become a joke.
Suddenly Indian engineers become memes.
Suddenly everyone becomes an expert on G-forces.

The hypocrisy is not subtle.
It screams.

I didn’t react for 24 hours.
I didn’t post condolences.
I didn’t amplify the crash videos.

Because the pilot deserves dignity.

But then… I saw the pattern.
Influencers pushing negativity.
Politicians jumping in for mileage.

Foreign lobby bots pushing,
“India can’t build jets.”
“Tejas is unreliable.”

So I dug into the data.
And it was hiding in plain sight.

Here is the total loss count for each fighter jet.
Ranked from highest to lowest.

F-16: 674 losses
MiG-21: 600 losses
MiG-29: 300 losses
F-35: 29 losses
Su-35S: 10 losses
Gripen: 9 losses
Rafale: 8 losses
Eurofighter: 8 losses
F-22: 6 losses
Su-57: 3 losses
Tejas: 2 losses

Now the average losses per year since service began.

This is where the truth hits hard.

F-16: 14.3 per year
MiG-21: 9.1 per year
MiG-29: 7.1 per year
F-35: 2.9 per year
Su-35S: 0.9 per year
Su-57: 0.6 per year
Typhoon: 0.36 per year
Rafale: 0.33 per year
Gripen: 0.31 per year
F-22: 0.3 per year
Tejas: 0.22 per year

Tejas is statistically one of the safest jets ever built.
Not just in India.
Globally.

And yet, this is the jet people mock.

So what they really want?
They want outrage against Bharat.
They want to shout “India can’t build.”
They want to feed their colonial inferiority.
They want to attack anything proudly Indian.

A jet crash is tragic.
Always.
But it is normal in aviation.

Every nation loses jets.
Every air force accepts risk.
Every aircraft has failures.

An inquiry committee will investigate.
They will give the facts.

Until then, we should stop humiliating our own country.

Tejas is a miracle.
A generational leap.
A symbol of India standing on its own feet.
A machine built by Indian brilliance.

Very soon we will have our own engine too.

And if the empire loyal crowd can’t digest that?
We don’t care.

Stop mocking our engineers.
Stop sharing crash p0rn.
Stop pretending to care.
Stop cheering for failures of Indian innovation.

Because here is the truth.
Tejas didn’t crash Bharat.
Bharat crashed the colonial mindset.
And some people just can’t handle it.

[Dileep]

Please note that the FBW or any aircraft software is NOT linked to the ejection mechanism, and those who are familiar with fault propagation should know why. The ejection mechanism is self contained, and mostly mechanical for its action. The essential function of firing the ejection charge and the parachute deployment are designed isolated from other functions to ensure the highest reliability and availability. The sequencing will have software elements. And almost everything will have mechanical backup. For example, the seat will punch-through the canopy, even if the jettison trigger did not work.

The only aircraft with something that can be called auto-eject is F-35, where the aircraft informs the seat if it is in VTOL mode. The seat decides ejection based on acceleration profile. Even with this, there are complaints of false ejections.

Looking at the video, there was more than enough time for ejection. The pilot was clearly unconscious.