ARCHIVED - MIlitary associations cricticize the age of San Javier-based air force planes after 4th pilot death in 6 months

Critics also highlight the lack of information provided by the Ministry of Defence

Following the tragic death of a pilot from the Spanish air force Academia General del Aire (AGA) last week, when his C-101 jet plunged into the Mediterranean off the coast of La Manga leaving him no time to activate the ejector seat, criticism is becoming widespread of the age of aircraft still in use at the base in San Javier and the lack of information provided by the Ministry of Defence.

Commander Eduardo Garvalena became the fourth pilot from the AGA to lose his life due to planes crashing into the sea either in the Mediterranean or in the Mar Menor in the last six months, and the second to do so while piloting a C-101. The other two fatalities occurred when a training pilot and his pupil plummeted into the Mar Menor in August while flying a Tamiz E-26 trainer plane.

With such a poor safety record at the AGA since last summer it is inevitable that questions should be asked concerning the reliability of the aircraft used, all the more so since it has already been decided that the C-101 is to be phased out over the next couple of years after 40 years in the skies over the Mar Menor. But further fuel has been added to the criticism of the Ministry by what military associations AUME, Asfaspro and UMT see as a lack of “transparency” in providing information about the causes of the recent accidents.

One of theories being put forward is that due to the age of the C101 replacement parts are hard to come by and are therefore sometimes “cannibalized” from other planes: given the vast experience of the two C-101 pilots who have died, both of them members of the Patrulla Águila air display team, pilot error is being discounted as a highly unlikely factor, but despite extensive analysis being carried out of the wreckage of the crashed planes the conclusions of the investigations last autumn have still not been made public.

In the regional press report on Monday that the air force’s procedures for investigating accidents date from over 25 years ago, when the Committee for the Technical Investigation of Military Aircraft (Citaam) was formed in May 1994. Since then approximately 280 incidents have been investigated, but the 7-page rules governing the actions of the Committee have not been updated despite the rapid evolution of new systems and aircraft in the intervening period.

Perhaps the most interesting comments are those offered by Rubén Pérez, formerly the leader of the Patrulla Águila and currently a councillor in San Javier. Sr Pérez concurs that the occurrence of three accidents in six months is stretching the limits of mere coincidence, but at the same time says it would be over-simplistic to attribute them solely to the age of the aircraft.

Other factors to take into account, he adds, should include the pressure under which pilots operate and, in general terms, the “human factor” – not in terms of “error” but in terms of wellbeing – and this is not taken into account in the six categories of explanation contemplated in the Citaam reports. These reports include four kinds of mechanical failure, one group of causes including weather conditions and acts of God and the catch-all “unidentified causes”.

Meanwhile, Margarita Robles, the Minister for Defence, visited the AGA in San Javier again at 11.00 on Monday, having already paid a visit to offer her condolences to the bereaved last Thursday: on that occasion she hurriedly cancelled a visit to the air force base in Alcantarilla.

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