After the entire fleet of 35 Tejas fighter jets in the inventory of the Indian Air Force (IAF) underwent ‘exhaustive checks’, it has been found that the accident on February 7 was caused by a glitch in the software of the plane’s onboard computer. The software has been corrected, and a new upgraded software is being tried out on the plane, said sources.
The software upgrade has been done jointly by the IAF and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. The glitch that caused the accident on February 7 was not a mechanical or metallurgical failure, the sources said, adding that glitches in software do happen and are corrected.
The IAF had ordered ‘exhaustive checks’ after the mishap, in which a jet was veered off the runway into an adjoining mud-ditch while it was in the process of taking off from a forward base along the western front. The pilot of the single-seater aircraft survived, but sustained injuries. The IAF is also conducting its Court of Inquiry.
The subsequent exhaustive checks included checking the metallurgy of the under carriage that holds the wheels, the electro-magnetic system used for applying brakes and the software. On February 23, plane maker HAL had said that the February 7 incident was ‘not a crash’, but a minor technical incident on ground.