Genesis
The Event
September 17th 2001, a night that can never be forgotten. This was the night on which Flt Lt. Abhijit Gadgil was no longer amongst us, except in our memories.
It was a dark moonless night. Flt Lt. Abhijit Gadgil took off from the Suratgarh Air Base in Rajasthan at 20:11 hrs for a routine mission. Little did anybody know that it would be the last time he would read his flight instruments, the last time he would fly the aircraft which was his pride and joy, the last time he would soar in the skies he loved so much before a freak accident would tragically take him away from us forever.
Flt Lt. Abhijit Gadgil was a proud Indian, a man who loved his country, a man whose zest for life lit up many a people's face at the mere mention of his name. This brave honourable pilot was lost to the Indian Air Force on that fateful night.
Unfortunately for him, the tragedy did not end there. Flt Lt. Gadgil knew the risks he took every time he got into the cockpit of his aircraft. But he accepted those risks for the love of his country and for his love of flying. What he never bargained for was the cavalier way in which his death would be treated.
Abhijit was a tenured pilot with many hours of flying experience and even had a plane with his name on it. Furthermore, he was a two plane leader, that meant that he was responsible for not only his own plane, but also another plane when flying in formation. Therefore it stands to reason that the Indian Air force could never have given him the responsibility to fly his own plane and lead another if he was a weak pilot. Despite these facts, when his family enquired about the cause of the accident, they were informed it was due to 'pilot error'.
It wasn’t until February 1st 2003, that Flt Lt. Gadgil’s distraught parents in desperation wrote a letter to the Chief of Air Staff. The response they received dated March 12th 2003, was a rude letter informing them yet again that it was pilot error without specifying what the error was.
In their quest for the truth, Flt Lt. Gadgil’s family investigated every resource they could find and finally one day their efforts were rewarded when they came across a report on the internet with the entire case history of the crash, including the details of the pilot, except for his name.
This was the turning point for Flt Lt. Gadgil’s family. Finally they knew the cause for the tragic event on September 17th 2001, at least the probable cause. The case history they found on the internet stated that it could have been Spatial Disorientation due to an in-flight emergency i.e. trim runway in pitch-up direction occurred resulting in an excessive pitch-up attitude of the aircraft. This was compounded by the false sensation of pitch-up attitude caused by the somatogravic illusion. In all probability the pilot was misguided by the ‘seat of the pants’ sensation and he overcorrected for the climb. As the height was just 250 m, the aircraft speed was high (700 kmph) and it was a dark night phase, aircraft crashed within few seconds.
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The Struggle
Thus began the long ordeal to restore Flt Lt. Abhijit Gadgil’s honour, because for any person serving in the defence forces, honour is the ‘be all and end all’ of their existence. And to be denied this, especially in death was not acceptable for a family who have consistently devoted their lives to serving our great country.
The necessity of making the establishment accountable for their apparent indifference was made doubly imperative by the alarming increase of such incidents and the resultant deaths of our other brave pilots. The situation was made worse by the ignominy of other pilots and their families being subjected to the same treatment as the Gadgil family was.
On August 5th 2003, Kavita Gadgil met the President of India with a petition regarding MiG-21 crashes and the fatal crash of Flt Lt. Abhijit Gadgil.
She also received on August 7th 2003, a letter from the then Defence Minister, Mr. George Fernandes (dated July 29th, 2003), showing concern about the MiG-21 crashes and inviting Flt Lt. Gadgil’s parents for a meeting.
Pursuant to this correspondence, they met with the Defence Minister on September 15th 2003, and he agreed to re-examine the cause of Flt Lt. Gadgil’s crash.
This was also the day the Gadgils wrote to the Chief of the Air Staff in response to his letter dated March 12th 2003.
After numerous letters and meetings on March 23rd 2005, the four years of persistent struggle finally bore fruit. The Gadgil Family finally received a letter from none other than the Air Chief exonerating Abhijit Gadgil of any blame for the crash and apologising for the hurt caused.
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Saving other lives
As per a report in The Tribune dated October 23rd 2000, the Indian Air Force lost 84 aircrafts, most of them ageing MiG-21s, in air accidents in the past five years causing a staggering loss of over Rs 866 Crores to the exchequer, according to official estimates. Since September 11th 2001, there have been 26 reported MiG-21 crashes with nine pilots losing their lives and two missing. Evidently, Flt Lt. Gadgil’s crash was neither the first nor the last of such MiG-21 incidents.
Seeing the apathy of the IAF towards its pilots, Ms. Kavita Gadgil then decided to take a stand, not only for her son but also for the sons of other mothers like her. What followed thereafter was a series of correspondence to and meetings with people who could make a difference.
AASF
In mid 2002, after meeting the families of other pilots who had also lost their sons, husbands and brothers in the MiG-21 crashes, Kavita Gadgil was driven by the need to do something about the dismal state of affairs. Encouraged by the support of the people she had met during her struggle, the concept of Abhijit Air Safety Foundation was born.
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Kavita Gadgil and AASF
The AASF movement came about from the struggle of one woman who stood for her son’s honour and refused to let the system subjugate her. Ms. Kavita Gadgil’s fight for justice has become a legend today. Behind the legend is a strong, principled woman whose dedication to her country is unparalleled. Ms. Gadgil has always been a proud supporter of the Defence Forces.
Her ardour to support the people protecting our nation has been phenomenal. Her passion for the forces led her to start a revolutionary enterprise. Seeing the misconceptions people had about the life defence personnel led, she decided to do something to change their perceptions. On her own initiative she founded the Tejas Kumar Melawa. This was an orientation camp to introduce children and their parents from normal walks of life to the charms of life as an Officer in the Defence Forces, to introduce them to the glamour and glory of being an officer serving our nation, Ms. Gadgil would hold orientation camps every year with lectures, workshops, slide-shows as well as actual hands on interaction with the Defence Forces officers.
Ms. Gadgil brought the same fervour that she evinced during her Tejas Kumar Melawa days to the formation of the AASF as well.
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Clearing Misconceptions
The main objective of this foundation right from its genesis was to make the Aviation industry recognise the pressing need for raising the Air Safety standards bar.
This monumental effort was not directed against the MiG 21 aircraft, nor the Indian Air Force. After all Ms. Gadgil is herself a fervent supporter of all the Defence Forces and is married to Wing Commander Anil Gadgil (Retd.).
This struggle was for the IAF to acknowledge the heroism of pilots who have lost their lives in active duty, whether in peace time or war, as also to acknowledge the contribution of these pilots and for the IAF to take responsibility for the safety of their pilots.
The AASF sought to highlight the issue of obsolete technology, inadequate training and the dwindling confidence in our Defence Forces. Every year millions of rupees from the tax payer’s money are spent to buy aircrafts and train our pilots. Ironically we lose these aircraft and the pilots manning them to accidents which could have been avoided if only these aircrafts were equipped with the latest technology and state of art upgrades and training equipment. The efforts taken by the AASF went a long way to bring about public awareness and this jumpstarted the corrective measures by the IAF. This has been apparent with the substantial decrease of air crashes in the subsequent years.
The AASF feels vindicated by the abatement in the number of MiG-21 crashes since the start of this movement. The IAF has finally taken cognizance of the efficacy of Advanced Jet Trainers (AJT) and as a consequence India has acquired its first batch of AJTs and is in the process of acquiring new aircrafts and related modern equipment, as well as Flight Simulators,with the alacrity it lacked before. All of these indicate positive improvement which the Foundation views and supports with immense satisfaction.
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The Joy of Flying
True to Ms. Kavita Gadgil’s enduring passion in support of the IAF and its personnel, her movement to give direction and encourage youngsters to a life in the Defence Forces has found a new forum through AASF. Today AASF is spreading its wings to include in its ambit the creation of an institute for aspiring pilots to be known as Jeet Aerospace. This Institute will guide and train youngsters to fly. The Institute will introduce several cutting-edge courses that will put a new spin on flying. The Foundation is already in the process of acquiring a flight simulator, a sky-deck observatory, and designing contemporary courses for the lay person as well as the aspiring pilot. Jeet Aerospace is the vision of a pilot’s mother to share with other hopeful aspirants the sheer joy of flying and make their dreams come true.
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