Jharkhand air ambulance crash: Sans black box, probe likely to get affected; focus shifts to ATC data

PTC News Desk: As the investigation into the Jharkhand plane crash deepens, officials said that the ill-fated plane did not have a black box. On Monday night, an air ambulance carrying seven people, crashed in Jharkhand's Chatra district, killing all on board.

Officials familiar with the matter said that the air ambulance was not equipped with the black box, which will further complicate the probe to ascertain exact cause behind the fatal crash.  However, the absence of these devices is likely to affect the probe into the cause of the crash. Investigators will now depend on air traffic control recordings, examination of the wreckage, and eyewitness accounts.

Meanwhile certain other factors have come to the fore that may have caused the tragedy. 

No black box recovered – Officials told that no black box was found in the Ranchi–Delhi air ambulance crash. Under civil aviation rules, aircraft weighing below 5,700 kg are not required to have a cockpit voice recorder (CVR) or flight data recorder (FDR). 

Airlines reported bad weather on the same route – Both Air India and IndiGo had earlier faced adverse weather conditions along the same route and sought deviations. 

Aircraft unused for four years – Officials said the Beechcraft C90 King Air involved in the crash had not been operated between 2018 and 2022. The aircraft was being run by Delhi-based Redbird Airways Pvt Ltd.

Family demands compensation – The family of Sanjay Kumar, the patient who died in the crash, has sought compensation and justice. According to ANI, his relatives said his health had been deteriorating during treatment, after which doctors advised that he be transported by air.