Russian technology not to blame: Envoy on Sukhoi plane crash

Russia today suggested that its technology could not be blamed for the recent crash of a Sukhoi-30 frontline fighter plane that led to the grounding of the entire fleet for a month and indicated possible human error behind it.
"There is a report coming from the special commission which was formed that (talked) about ejection of the seats of the two pilots. There is the conclusion of the commission. There was no glitch on the part of Russian technology," Russian Ambassador Alexander Kadakin told reporters here.
Quoting the report of the probe committee, he said there was some problem in ejection of pilots' seats.

"I would not like to say that it was a human factor but it was a human factor. Russian seats cannot just eject...," he said replying to a question on the issue.
The entire fleet of Russian-made aircraft was grounded by Indian Air Force in October following a crash near Pune. It was cleared for flying last month.
It was the longest period for which the fleet was grounded since 2009 when its operation was suspended for nearly three weeks following an accident.

On the remarks of the Russian envoy, IAF sources said the Court of Inquiry is still on.

"All technical issues having to do with seat ejection are still under examination. All possibilities are being examined in great details which involve technical defect and human error," the sources said
On reports of some damage to India's largest warship and aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, Kadakin said Russia has not been approached on the issue.
"We have not been approached. India is known to have very good pilots. You do have excellent pilots and Indian pilots are famous across the world but some of your pilots are like young people.
"They behave like cowboys. They are rash drivers. They want to get out of the machine...It was not a major thing. That's why we have not been approached," he said.

The 44,500-tonne Vikramaditya has been acquired from Russia for over Rs 15,000 crore.
Asked about a problem when the warship was coming to India from Russia, he said it had occurred off the shore of Portugal when an Indian tanker could not refuel it due to technical issues.
On whether there was any proposal to set up a plant for production of AK-47 assault rifles in Gujarat, he replied in the negative.