NEW DELHI, Feb. 7 -- The deaths of two Indian Air Force (IAF) test pilots in a Mirage 2000 crash at the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) airport in Bengaluru last week may have been caused in part by arrester barriers, critical airfield safety equipment, giving way, officials with first-hand information of the matter said on condition of anonymity.
The reason for the crash itself remains unknown - the black box of the fighter has been sent to France for analysis - but the death of the pilots could have been averted if the barriers, meant to stop the aircraft, had held, one of the officials added. "Once the arresters gave way, there was little chance that the two had of bringing the aircraft to rest," he said. The two pilots, squadron leader...