New Delhi, Nov 9: The proposal to give fighter pilots of the Indian Air Force (IAF) a higher allowance than those flying transport aircraft and helicopters, presumably as the former face a greater combat risk, may have ignored ground realities.

A recommendation of the Fifth Pay Commission, the proposal is currently lying with the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs.The pilots at the receiving end contest the theory of greater threat to fighter pilots.

According to them, this may have been true earlier when fighter planes were single-engine, but not now with the advent of twin-engined aircraft like Jaguar, MiG-29 and Su-30 in IAF.The risks, on the other hand, are on their side, the pilots contest. For one, they point out, a fighter aircraft has an ejection seat that can be used in case of any systems failure.

In contrast, the escape system in case of transport planes is very slow and using a parachute can be a cumbersome process. A chopper pilot is even more vulnerable as he has no escape system. Moreover, both transport planes and choppers carry passengers who do not have parachutes and hence cannot abandon aircraft mid-air.Secondly, a helicopter is a delicately balanced flying machine with a critical tail rotor system. Any damage to the tail rotor -- which is linked to the engine with a shaft that runs in the tail boom -- because of enemy action or otherwise, results in loss of control. A copter is as good as lost under such circumstances.Transport pilots also claim that even in the event of a combat, a fighter plane is safer than a chopper. The IAF, they point out, has hundreds of Chetaks and Mi-8 helicopters which are also armed with guns, rockets and missiles; like fighter aircraft. However, unlike the latter, helicopters cannot do air combat as they cannot defend themselves by shooting at another aircraft.

Besides, choppers fly close to the ground at low speeds, and hence are easier targets for ground fire, including surface-to-air missiles. What chance does a helicopter at a speed of 150 km per hour have as compared to a fighter at 800 km per hour?Also, as fighter pilots fly at greater heights over glaciers and valleys, they can always glide their aircraft down and eject in case of an engine failure. For a chopper pilot, a similar situation would mean almost certain death, say the pilots.

Even transport fliers reportedly take greater risks. At IAF bases, the radars are always on whenever a fighter pilot is flying. No such special landing aid is available for transport aircraft at late evening or night.

Though it is true that fighter pilots fly solo -- unlike transport fliers who have navigators -- pilots point out that they do not fly in bad weather. Transport aircraft, on the other hand, are trained to fly in poor conditions.During the Maldives coup attempt in November 1988, the IAF's Illyushin-76 transport planes had amply demonstrated this ability. As part of the Operation Cactus to foil the coup, they had airlifted paratroops and landed on a runway in the middle of the Indian Ocean, some 700 km from Thiruvananthapuram, without the benefit of landing lights.

Transport planes were also at the forefront of the Army's Sri Lankan operation in the late '80s. Besides, while these slog through the year, in times of war and peace, fighters are deployed only during war.