Air Ambulance Crash in New Delhi
 

News agencies are reporting an air ambulance has crashed in the faridabad area

Was supposed to be transferring a critically ill passenger from Patna in Bihar to Delhi

Supposedly crashed into a residential colony .

My prayers are with them....

RIP .

12 killed as air ambulance crashes in Faridabad
 

FARIDABAD: A small aircraft with seven on board crashed into a colony in Faridabad's sector 22 around 10.45 pm on Wednesday, killing all on board. Five more persons were killed on the ground. The aircraft, a PC-12 with registration number VT-ACF, was operating as an air ambulance and initial reports indicated bad weather was the cause of the accident.

The plane fell on two houses in the middle of Parvatia Colony, near Jawahar Colony, NIT, and immediately burst into flames. There were five passengers and two crew members on board.

They included the 22-year-old patient, Rahul Raj, an attendant, two doctors, one male nurse, the pilot and co-pilot.

Those killed were Dr Rajesh, Dr Arshad, Captain Harpreet, co-pilot Manpreet Kataria, Ratnesh Kumar

Rahul Raj and his cousin, Ratnesh, are residents of Bettiah in West Champaran.

Rahul Raj had been admitted in the ICU at Patna's Jagdish Memorial Hospital and was on ventilator support, said Dr Harsh who had accompanied the team to Patna airport. Raj was being brought to Delhi for treatment at Apollo Hospital. His uncle, Anoop Kumar, told TOI that he was being accompanied by a cousin brother.

The aircraft was being operated by Air Chartered Services Pvt Ltd, which has an office in Defence Colony. It had taken off from Patna at 8.33pm and was expected to land in Delhi shortly after 11pm. Sources said that last time the plane was seen on the radar was at 10.45pm and the last contact between the pilot and ATC was when the aircraft was at a height of 11,000 ft.

According to sources, the aircraft had deviated from its path, possibly due to strong winds. At the time of crash, most aircraft landing at IGI airport were unable to stick to their paths due to strong winds.

Parvatia Colony is a densely populated area and officials were expecting casualties to rise. The flames from the houses could be seen from a distance of 1.5km and eyewitnesses said the fire was spreading to other houses. The area had been cordoned off and a huge crowd had gathered at the spot, making rescue work difficult for the police and fire personnel.


12 killed as air ambulance crashes in Faridabad - The Times of India

i was there
 

It happened about 3 kms ( 2 miles ) from where i was.. The wind went up suddenly as soon as i entered the town, and a massive dust storm hit us... Around 10:55 i did see a couple of Fire Tenders scrambling, but dint understand where. Got to know from a friend that its crashed close by.

Casualties at the moment are 11 ( 4 on ground ). The aircraft was a Pilatus PC-12. registered in Feb11. I was reading up on wiki, anyone finds it odd that 3 aircrafts have had loss of IFR?? Loss of instrumentation??

( Im an Avionics Maintenance engineer ).

dust storm you said? what kind of plane was it? **** this is really sad.

VT-ACF , a Pilatus PC-12 , belonged to Aircharter services in Delhi , It's a huge blow to general Aviation .

Debris fields showing a very small spread. Aircraft seems to have come down in one piece on a roof top leaving the rear 3/4 pretty intact with the front portion breaking off and falling to the ground (10m to 12 m). Fire damage to the rear outer portion is not too much

Initial look is that the Prop seems to be intact and the blades folded back but all attached. Maybe a sign that it was not working.

While there was a fire it was brief and put out fast so not sure if there was too much fuel on board.

From the looks of the wreckage all damaged caused due to impact with buildings, level orientation of aircraft indicates it was gliding in at time of impact. An eyewitness claims he saw it circling as it came down.

The co-pilot's name was Manjeet Kataria (not Manpreet).

According to the ATC report, there was no distress call made by the crew members..so it might be possible that the engine might have failed and because of the strong winds, dust storm and the work-load on the pilots, they hadn't got a chance to make a distress call....and finally in the wake of ontroing the aircraft, must have descended (lost control) and finally crashed....
Also one of the eye-witness says that he saw the aircraft catching up fire in the air itself, before it hit the building.

Whatever may be the reason, it is really a sad and nasty accident. May god bless the souls of everyone who lost their lives..R.I.P.

Indeed it is very sad , the Co-pilot as rightly pointed above was not Manpreet but MANJEET KATARIA , the guy just started working a month ago and it is really sad .
He was a very helpful person and i am just short of words , i guess there is nothing much i can do then to pray for him and his family .

capt harpreet was a senior to me in my flying school and he was a good pilot....
He had more than 2000 on PC12......i am shocked, aviation world is so small...
He got married about 5 months ago. RIP to all who lost their lives in crash....

Man this is sad guys... yup it was a Pilatus PC-12, registered 21st Jan, 2011. Guys does the PC12 have a APU? I dont think so, its too small to have one, right?

There was a thunderstorm, with a bit of lightning as well. Could it have been struck??

The Dust storm was bad, my car was being rocked by the sand and the winds, so i can imagine how it wouldve been higher up, but the aircraft was descending to 11,000ft, can anyone advise that does a localized weather pattern go up so high??

This is baffling to say the least. The plane was towards the end of its journey, and with a 550kg fuel payload, im guessing not much was left on board.

I tried googling whether the PC-12 has a Bbox, anyone any info??

As per DGCA norms it is supposed to have CVR and FDR working on board.

I think Engine trouble + weather conditions took toll on the pilots.

My condolences to their family and friends.

Video and lots of info here;

The Kathryn Aviation Report: VIDEO: Crash of Pilatus PC-12/45, VT-ACF, Air Charter Services India. Faridabad, India.

Registered HB-FPV Pilatus Flugzeugwerke AG (2005 Brand New) Aircraft was originally delivered to Cumbrian Seafoods Ltd UK as G-PVPC on June 27 2005

Aircraft was re-registered N386F on January 11 2011 and delivered to India, US registration was canceled on January 19 2011.

Aircraft was registered VT-ACF on January 21 2011 to M/S Air Charter Services PVT. LTD Add-D-67, Ground Floor, Defence Colony, New Delhi- 10024 India

G-pvpc image by riat4ever on Photobucket

N386F (s/n 632 ex G-PVPC). PC12 AT PILATUS (E) HURN ~ 13TH JANUARY 2011 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

My gut tells me not to rule out sever icing.

It appears the aircraft was unable to maintain an altitude given by ATC.

Looking at the the prop, my guess is it was under power when the aircraft hit.

CVR and FDR not compulsory on aircraft below 5700 kg as per DGCA
 

Hi ,
Please find the extract of Civil Aviation Regulation regarding CVR and FDR for aircraft with All Up Weight less than 5700 Kgs.




3. APPLICABILITY REQUIREMENTS:
3.2 AEROPLANES – GENERAL AVIATION
3.2.1 Cockpit voice recorders — aeroplanes for which the individual
certificate of airworthiness is first issued on or after 1 January 1987
3.2.1.1 All aeroplanes of a maximum certificated takeoff mass of over 27 000 kg
shall be equipped with a cockpit voice recorder, the objective of which is
the recording of the aural environment on the flight deck during flight time.
3.2.1.2 It is recommended that all aeroplanes of a maximum certificated take-off
mass of over 5 700 kg up to and including 27 000 kg should be equipped
with a cockpit voice recorder, the objective of which is the recording of the
aural environment on the flight deck during flight time.

Civil aviation Requirment as per DGCA
 

Civil aviation requirements
section 2 - airworthiness
series 'i' part vi
issue i, 12th december, 1996
effective: Forthwith

CVR and FDR not compulsory on aircraft below 5700 kg as per DGCA
 

I think DGCA will recommend to have CVR / FDR on board aircraft below atleast now . It not only gives a chance to detect what went wrong but also to avoid such Mishaps in near future . This crash has engulfed me in deep shock and grief . Manjeet Kataria had been seeking my advise and was recently inducted as a copilot . He was a student of Rashtriya Indian Military College ( My Alma Matter too ) . He called me up few days back , full of enthusiasm regarding his new job . Still cant believe what has happened ... is True. May your soul rest in Peace , buddy

Dunno if its true or not.. But according to someone who worked on the aircraft, it happened due to fuel starvation. The fuel was calculated incorrectly, or lesser amount of fuel was uplifted.

The crew tried contacting Delhi, but due no response or not having adequate range, they tried to divert to the airforce base in faridabad. The bad weather did the rest, since the aircraft was nearly gliding...

Not sure whether its true or not, but this is what an insider has to say.

they tried to divert to the airforce base in faridabad.:ugh::ugh::ugh::=:=.... why is it still an unknown why it crashed !... the crew would have declared emergency... pls dont make stories ! for your news channel

sad news for the crew and the family of the people who passed away.

I am not from india, but the weather in delhi was pretty bad. We had effects of it out here too and had no flights that day.

Guessing it was the bad weather and most probably got slammed to the ground. and as it looks like it was not a case of CFIT though and regarding the CVR as much as I know about Pilatus they do have a FDR if not a CVR. Not sure if it was the NG model or not. If it was Pilatus does offer FDR and CVR so its a choice of the operator to get it or not.

Regulations do not require it though.

Anyway, would be interesting to know the conclusion about it.

Who is the real culprit..??

http://avindia.********.com/2011/05/...dgca-real.html

CAR notification released by DGCA on 1st June, 2010 (SECTION 3, AIR TRANSPORT SERIES ‘C’, PART III, ISSUE II) prohibits all single engine aircraft ferrying patients.

The radars in these older PC12's arent the best, and its very easy to get yourself into a nasty spot, more so at night when you cant look out the window and see with your eyes. Any experienced aviator who has probed around storms would have had at least one scary as ****e experience with flying thru a cloud that looked ok on the radar and turned out to impale you into the ceiling... storms in India I find are a totally different beast sometimes when compared to other places on the planet.

Sad news though, met the Captain a couple of times in recent months, seemed a super nice guy with lots of experience and common sense, he was more than helpful too.

Quote from CAR Sec 3 Ser C Part III:

Doesn't seem like a violation, does it? If anything, it allows single engine airplanes to operate to international destinations in case of a medical evacuation.

The news channels have already botched up their bit... i was sharing what i got to know.. with a disclaimer that im not sure if its true or not..

As with regards to the fire, even if they had fuel starvation, there is always un-usable fuel present in the tanks... they dont just dry up completely. This is to keep the sediments, and water from entering the fuel line.

A DTC driver’s daughter who flew high - Indian Express

May their souls rest in peace.

One of those poor situations that occurred. Many may blame DGCA or ATS for the accident. But at the end of the day... were they in the cockpit?

It's unfortunate to say that guys who've I had a beer or two with who were "great" guys bought the farm do to poor judgement.

It happens folks:{, great people enter flight conditions well beyond their abilities.

RIP Sekhon, hope you're doing fine wherever you are.

Whats the elevation? The PC12 glides quite well. From 11,000ft you would have a very decent glide range so they should have had more than enough time to get out a mayday call.
If there is a relatively small debris field then that usually means that it came down rather vertically, and with the plane basically being intact, that would imply a slow rate of decent.
One could quite safely assume a glide.

Dust storm in the area? Engine failure/Flame out due to ingestion with also the antenna's being destroyed/disabled by the sand/dust hitting it.
One would have to ask why then, that you would push into that? Due to the critical patient on board?

How far along its flight path was it? Is fuel exhaustion due to stronger than forecast winds a possibility?
Again though, was the critical patient a factor in deciding to push on, hoping that you could make it?

These are all questions that the investigators will be asking. The report should be out soon enough.
RIP all involved.