The Court of Inquiry investigating the three MiG 2000 crashes last month today visited Bangalore to try and gather information as to why the jets went down.Headed by Group Capt Subramaniam, Chief Operations Officer of the Bareilly Air Force station, the members of th court held a two-hour brainstorming session with Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd undercarriage experts, Light Combat Aircraft project members, National Aerospace Labs test scientists and flight experts from the Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment.While Air Headquarters has ordered preventive checks on all Mirage fighters after the two planes crashed on September 23 and October 12 and one crash-landed in Mauritius on October 4, the checks are now to be done on all fighters in the IAF’s fleet. Sources said the September 23 crash was probably because of a problem with the fastener that held the aircraft’s main left wheel to the axle. The possibility of a cracked axle is also being investigated. The Air Force has, meanwhile, denied the possibility of aircraft fatigue and is currently considering a programme to further extend the life of Mirage fleet.
