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Replace AN-32 aircraft, demands father of flight lieutenant who went missing in 2016
Flight Lieutenant Kunal Barpatte, a 27-year-old resident of Pimpri-Chinchwad near Pune, was part of the six-member crew on another AN-32, which went missing
Missing of AN-32 aircraft in Arunachal Pradesh on Monday has brought back Rajendra Barpatte painful memories of his son Flight Lieutenant Kunal Barpatte. Rajendra said his worst fears may come true while demanding that the Soviet origin aircraft should to be replaced.
Kunal, a 27-year-old resident of Pimpri-Chinchwad near Pune, was part of the six-member crew on another AN-32, which went missing in July 2016 after which Rajendra had written to the Indian Air Force (IAF) saying these aircraft bought from Soviet Union in 1984 should have been replaced long back. A navigating officer of 33 Squadron, Kunal was on board the AN 32, which was carrying 29 people and disappeared from the Bay of Bengal on July 22 while flying Chennai to Port Blair.
After various efforts and massive search operations, the Indian Air Force could not find the aircraft following which those travelling on board were declared “presumed dead”, an administrative procedure to complete formalities of compensation for those missing along with aircraft. The court of inquiry conducted by IAF concluded it is unlikely that missing persons on board of aircraft could have survived in the incident.
Earlier in 2009, yet another twin-engine Soviet plane with 13 people on board crashed in Arunachal Pradesh. Known to be a military transport aircraft, Antonov or AN-32 is known for flying four hours without fuelling.
In the latest incident, the transport aircraft with 13 people on board took off from Jorhat at 12:27 pm though the last contact with ground was made at 1 pm. While India had acquired 116 aircraft from Soviet Union in 1984, 40 were undertaken for upgradation in Ukraine from 2011 onwards, while the remaining aircraft were to be upgraded in India.
Post incident, Barpatte senior had written to IAF saying there is probability of repeat of similar incident in future. To his letter, Barpatte sought technical information about the aircraft though it was never provided to him, he said.
Speaking about the latest incident, Rajendra, a retired scientist at Central Institute of Road Transport (CIRT) said, post the 2016 tragedy, he had asked the then defence minister Manohar Parrikar to replace the aircraft as they have been in use since three and a half decades and have become too old.
“During my meeting with Parrikar, I asked him why are our defence forces putting lives of young officers on risk by making them fly these planes. My worst fears of that time may now come true,” said Barpatte, while demanding that “the defence ministry takes a cue from Monday’s incident and replace all aircraft with new ones and save lives”.
