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Safety checks over, Sukhois hit skies today New Delhi, November 14 The IAF headquarters have told Sukhoi air bases to start flying the jets, sources confirmed tonight. The Russian fighter jets will also participate in the 10-day India-Russia joint exercise at Halwara, Punjab, commencing November 17. Russian pilots will be flying IAF planes. The Sukhois are based at Sirsa, Bathinda, Bareilly, Halwara, Jodhpur and Pune — all close to the western front. The planes are also based at Chabua and Tezpur in the East. The 200-strong fleet of Sukhoi-30MKI was grounded a month ago after a pilot seat of one of a jets ejected automatically mid-air resulting in a crash. The grounding meant almost one-third of the IAF's entire fleet of 640-odd fighter jets was not available for flying. A team of experts from India and Russia carried out checks on the plane's seat ejection system. In New Delhi, IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha said the findings of a Court of Inquiry (CoI) into the crash are being finalised. "The (Pune crash on October 14) was an accident which appeared to be automatic firing of the seats. The inquiry is about to be completed and the findings are being finalised. We will have the results very soon and we are going to start flying the aircraft". He added that "preliminary findings" indicate that the experts have been able to find the reason for the malfunction and "we will be able to tackle the problem". Specific checks pertain to pilot seats - the NPP Zvezda K-36DM. The original equipment makers in Russia and the IAF are part of the probe, sources said.A team of 10 experts from Russia is currently in Pune, Sukhoi-30 base. Sources said the Russian experts have claimed that the ejection of seats cannot take place automatically, a contention not acceptable to the IAF. The October 14 incident in which both pilots ejected was the third such incident. In the first incident in 2008, an airman carrying out a pre-flight test at the Bareilly Sukhoi base had died. The seat ejected on its own when he was sitting in the cockpit carrying out checks. The airman, who was thrown 50 feet up in the air, hit the roof of the hangar, killing him immediately. The second incident occurred in Jodhpur this year when one of the fighter jets was taxing to take-off. The seats ejected and the pilots were thrown about 100 feet up in the air. They made a safe landing with the help of parachutes. Since the plane was taxing and was at a slow speed, there was no damage, sources said. In all, there have been five accidents involving a Sukhoi-30MKI since 2009. Grounded following a crash
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