Originally posted by Atobe:
From a posting at the forum ''Defending the Lion City'' the following was
extracted from some very confused jumble of details titled:
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The "very confused jumble of details" you describe is part of a
longer essay published in 2004, which I'm posting here.
My upcoming book, Defending Singapore - The Singapore Armed Forces,
will list crash data in an appendix.
Pub Date: Jun 2, 2004 Pub: ST Page: 25
Author: DBOEY
Headline: RSAF has done much to boost flight safety
By: David Boey, Defence correspondent
Page Heading: Commentary Analysis
Caption:
The RSAF's improved safety record is commendable in view of its
more intense
flying schedule and the larger fleet of aircraft when compared to
the past.
Corporation: Republic of Singapore Air Force, RSAF
Subject: Aviation Accidents, Safety
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THOUGH military aviation is inherently dangerous, the Republic of
Singapore Air
Force (RSAF) has done much to make air force flights safe.
A study of RSAF aircraft and helicopters lost in aerial accidents
shows that
the air force has achieved fewer crashes and fewer fatalities in
recent years
compared to the RSAF's formative years.
When air crashes do occur, these accidents tend to be far more
survivable
now than air crashes in the 1970s.
The RSAF's improved track record did not pop up overnight but was
the result
of a sustained effort to build up safety consciousness among all
ranks. Some
other air forces have failed to shrug off their bad flight-safety
record
because their senior officers have not remedied safety hazards like
poor pilot
training, shoddy aircraft maintenance, improperly scripted standard
operational
procedures or inadequately maintained airbase infrastructure.
The RSAF's improved safety record is commendable in view of its
higher
operational tempo - which means more intense flying - and the
larger fleet of
fighters, support aircraft and helicopters in its order of
battle.
From 1970 to 1979, the RSAF lost 16 pilots from 21 fighter-aircraft
crashes.
One Hawker Hunter was damaged in a mid-air collision but managed to
return to
its airbase safely. More than 70 per cent of the crashes in the
1970s were
fatal ones.
The 10 years between 1990 to 1999 saw nine RSAF personnel (six
helicopter
pilots and three helicopter aircrewmen) die in three helicopter
crashes. No
fighter pilot died during this period.
From 1990 to 1999, the RSAF lost five choppers, three fighters and
three jet
trainers. One F-16A fighter, which was badly damaged in a mid-air
collision
with another F-16A in July 1991, managed to limp back to Paya Lebar
Airbase and
has been rebuilt.
All RSAF deaths that occurred from 1990 to 1999 involved Super
Puma
transport helicopters. These carry two pilots and at least one
aircrewman in
the passenger compartment.
Catastrophic helicopter crashes are less survivable than accidents
involving
aircraft equipped with ejection seats because chopper crews cannot
bail out of
their stricken machines.
The fact that there is a 16-year gap between the previous death of
an RSAF
fighter pilot and last month's fatal crash involving Lieutenant
Brandon Loo
Kwang Han, 25, underscores the part that safety devices like
ejection seats
have played in saving aircrew lives.
The last fatal crash involving an RSAF fighter pilot took place on
May 24,
1988, in the Philippines. In that incident, a 23-year-old pilot
ejected from a
Hawker Hunter just outside Clark Airbase. He was picked up by a
United States
Air Force rescue chopper but died from his injuries.
Unlike ejection seats used today, which can safely extract a pilot
even if
his aircraft is stationary on the ground, a Hunter pilot needed to
achieve a
minimum height and airspeed for his parachute to open safely. The
pilot
involved in the Clark Airbase crash was barely at the safety
threshold, so his
injuries were severe.
Between that crash and the death of Lt Loo after his fighter
crashed on May
19 during a night-training flight in the Arizona desert, 10 RSAF
fixed-wing
aircraft have crashed but their pilots all survived.
Several other aircraft were involved in minor incidents, like
veering off
runways, but no serious injuries to pilots were reported.
Such news may be cold comfort to the family, friends and colleagues
of Lt
Loo, whose ashes were placed in their final resting place yesterday
afternoon
at Foo Hai Ch'an Monastery.
While we mourn his loss, Singaporeans can take heart that the RSAF
has built
up a robust safety-management apparatus that will get to the bottom
of the
tragic crash and ensure that lessons learnt are disseminated in a
proper and
timely manner.
The formation of the RSAF Flight Test Centre means the air force
can work
with the defence industry and defence science community to test and
install
devices to make RSAF aircraft safer.
These run the gamut from ejection seats and parachutes, to devices
that can
launch decoys to protect aircraft against anti-aircraft missiles,
thereby
boosting the aircraft's operational safety.
Airbase infrastructure has improved significantly since the 1970s.
The
decision to build Changi East Airbase and the runway on Pulau
Sudong means RSAF
pilots have alternative landing strips should emergencies
arise.
These airstrips are a vital safety feature as flight paths leading
to Paya
Lebar Airbase and Tengah Airbase take aircraft over densely
populated areas.
One can appreciate the enormity of the task the RSAF faces in
managing
safety when one considers that the RSAF is one of the few air
forces in the
world where the sun never sets on its flight-training regime.
This is because the RSAF maintains detachments in places as far
flung as
Australia, Brunei, France and the United States. So its training
management
philosophy must operate not only round the clock, but also round
the globe in
different climates and flying conditions.
The RSAF cannot hope for a zero-accident rate. The only way for any
air
force to achieve a zero-accident rate is for it to keep its
warplanes grounded.
That being an impractical measure, the RSAF must continue to work
to manage
the consequences of air accidents by doing all it can to make such
mishaps
survivable.
Warplanes can always be replaced, but pilots and aircrew are
irreplaceable.
- Ends -
