Ron wrote:
On Dec 10, 11:29 am, Dennis wrote:
Ron wrote:

I once watched an Su-30 on fire, going off the runway with no brakes,
into the arrest barrier.
Indian government later denied the entire thing every happened, and
said that the entire incident was just a pre-planned drill...
Now *that's* what I call a Chinese fire drill! :-)

Dennis

It was interesting how it all turned out. It could have actually
turned out a bit different and had me in the center of it all.

I was flying out of a Indian dual use air base that year, and I had
just finished leaving the runway after our mission was aborted. I
pulled off the runway, go down the short distance to the taxiway to
our parking spot. And just as I am about to shut down, one of their
Su-30s flies over the parking ramp rather low, and I was wondering
WTF?

That was shortly followed by the sight of the other Su-30, on fire
from the rear, and apparently with no brakes, going down the runway
where I had just been a couple of minutes earlier. I think the
runway was slightly downhill too, and so it went right into the raised
arrest barrier. There was quite a commotion after that, with fire
trucks, etc out there and a lot of people. Unfortunately, getting a
photo was highly illegal there, and I would have been arrested for
it. Usually photography at any Indian airport is taboo, and
especially someplace withe IAF pride and join, Su-30MKI.

So the next day in the paper, there is an article about an IAF Su-30
having making an emergency landing, which was true. Apparently an
engine failed badly, taking out hydraulics with it, which is what was
burning from the rear.

Two days later, that story has now evolved into it being a
precautionary landing,with no real emergency.

Two more days later, story changes once again to it not being either
one of those, but now it was just a drill, planned in advance, with no
aircraft problem at all.

While I'm sure the Indian military authorities would love to make an
incident like that disappear, I very much doubt the Indian press would.


--
William Black

"Any number under six"

The answer given by Englishman Richard Peeke when asked by the Duke of
Medina Sidonia how many Spanish sword and buckler men he could beat
single handed with a quarterstaff.