C-130 J Crash: What are the real reasons?
The crash of Lockheed Martin Super Hercule transport plane operated by Indian Air force
on 28th March 2014 is
increasingly getting mired into controversy.
A front page news report on the
Indian Express of 23rd April 23, 2014 further corroborates the
evidence of a clumsy attempt at cover up.
One needn't suggest that the report is deliberately planted to test the
public opinion on behalf of vested interests. Though major Indian newspapers
and influential media houses are known
to act a PR houses of leading arms sellers in the world. The very reporting containing self-contradictory
assertions point to a deeply disturbing
state of affairs in India’s national
security arena in which mainstream press
and government collaborate to fudge the facts
and prevent outflow of truth at the cost of grave harm to national
interest.
The report’s seemingly feeble attempt to
attribute the crash to ‘Wake turbulence’
is laughably silly and flies in the face of basic scientific and
technical facts. Though it , in same
breath qualifies the so-called
findings with the statement that a final
report is still underway. So the purpose
seems clear. Blame it on the crew and
exonerate the manufacturer who hasn’t even made the voice recorder data
public till date as the
manufacturer is investigating himself!
The
technical and scientific facts would point against ‘wake turbulence’ as a
cause of crash. Wake turbulence is caused
by an aircraft in flight leaving behind
extremely volatile vortices making it
dangerous for any tailing aircraft not
maintaining a safe distance. Of the
two major components of the
turbulence, wingtip vortices and jet wash created by high-speed gases expelled
by jet engines, the former are the real danger due to their longer persistence
in air. These are known to be of concern
during take-off and landing but rarely in mid-flight. Besides , military
aircrafts are designed to fly in formation controlled by a common command centre normally resident in the leading
plane. The flight control is transferred
to the leaders on board computer making distance separation between planes
automatic. Hercule is designed to sustain turbulences of incomparably higher intensity
than those created by her powerful engines and flight behavior. Any good graduate student of mechanical
engineering will discount the
possibility of such a heavy mass falling prey to rapid air circulation
possible on a calm and clear sky over Agra. The repositories of crashes histories of the plane make it the first case if
turbulence is the cause. In case the
tailing pilot of the C-130J ploughed into wing tip vortex of the leading
plane, the error lies
surely at the doorstep of the commanding computer module not at that of
the crew. Independent access to flight
data recorder and other onboard control data would give real reasons but they
are unlikely to be made accessible before an impartial investigation effort.
The reason: the bear bug of national
security again that may open up many inconvenient question for the government
and manufacturer. Hence the report by Indian express is a helpful push to the cause of national security.
Possible causes:
"The
accident happened just before the identified 'drop zone' when the aircraft,
flying at a low level to evade enemy radars, slows down quite a bit to offload
paratroopers or equipment. There was no radio exchange between the ill-fated
aircraft and the other C-130J in the front... there was no warning," According to a report published in another
leading national newspaper TOI on 5 April 23, 2014.
This would rule out waking turbulence theory. The another
conspiracy theory floating around pointing to Chinese faulty parts would obviously be a motivated report to deflect
attention as faulty parts, if any, would
be exposed in any investigation. Besides Hercules are not manufactured like
hamburgers in Mcdonald. They carry the
manufacturing and technological prowess of worlds’ leading super power. If that too doesn’t stick, we can bring in
Pakistan soon enough.
Accident happened so fast
at a low altitude that it gave no time to crew to eject from a crashing
plane. A terrestrial projectile attack would had also given the crew enough time to
eject to safety. Was there any such
unidentified assault on the plane
from ground? Or massive radio
interference for a very short duration from a nearly located source? The preponderance of radio-wave emitting sources
i.e towers, low voltage power cables, amateur radios and
cell phones etc makes a low flying
plane’s controls vulnerable to jamming.
In any case the final report is awaited.
People of India may know. Or may
not owing to reasons of ‘National Security’ ! At least we can trust mainstream national press to be on side of those who believe people of India are not the best guardians of their national security.
