Swedish air force aircraft losses since 1986

These are the yearly figures for aircraft losses and fatalities:

                   1997  96  95  94  93  92  91  90  89  88  87  86
Lost aircraft         0   5   0   1   3   2   3   4   3   4   1   6
Fatalities            0   4   0   0   1   1   0   3   2   4   1   0
Failed ejections      0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0
Successful ejections  0   2   0   1   1   0   2   2   2   1   0   5

From 1997, the numbers include the whole Defence Forces, as there isn't a separate air force, army or navy any longer.

During 1997, the Draken and Viggen units flew a total of 24,201 hours, against a planned 27,660.

By 1994, these were the numbers for lost aircraft in the Swedish air force:

          Prototypes      Production
       losses   built     losses  built
    (during development)
Tunnan    1(1)  4         190     661
Lansen    4(3)  7         118     447
Draken    3(0)  5         118     599
Sk 60     1(?)  2           9     150
Viggen    7(3)  8          43     329
Gripen    2(2)  7           1     204 (on order)
"During development" means the prototypes flown before the type is put in regular service. The prototypes will continue to fly, for example to develop subsystems.

The second crashed Gripen "prototype" was actually a production aircraft in air force service, but flown by a Saab test pilot.

One Tunnan prototype crashed because of an engine failure. Of the service aircraft 30 were lost to causes having to do with the new technology: The swept back wing and defects in the artificial horizon system.

New technology, the hydraulically boosted control system, was the cause of three Lansen prototype crashes.

No Drakens were lost during the development phase. Of the service aircraft 25 have been lost due to causes related to its aerodynamic properties, of them 18 superstalls.

One Viggen prototype and the first series aircraft were lost due to assymetrical application of the trust reverser. Two other prototypes were lost during development, one due to engine failure. Three service aircraft crashed when their main wing spars failed.

Sources: FlygvapenNytt 4+5/1987, 1/94, 5/95+1/96, 1/97, 5/97+1/98


The Swedish military aviation page
Last modified 1999 Sep 21 by Urban Fredriksson
griffon@canit.se