New Delhi: A Delhi-bound air ambulance crashed shortly after taking off from Ranchi with seven people on board, including two crew members, on Monday night. The Beechcraft C90 (VT-AJV) belonging to Redbird Aviation Pty Ltd (not the Pilot Training Academy) took off at 7.11pm. It is reported that after climbing to 6,000 feet, the pilots contacted Kolkata air traffic control to request a “weather deviation” – meaning they wanted to change their route to avoid bad weather. However, the 39-year-old plane crashed shortly after.The plane, which was performing a “medical evacuation (air ambulance) flight” in the Ranchi-Delhi area, crashed in Kasaria Panchayat in Jharkhand’s Chhatra district. There were seven people on board, including two crew members. The flight took off from Ranchi at 7:11 pm. After establishing contact with Kolkata at 7:34 p.m., the aircraft lost contact and radar contact with Kolkata about 100 nautical miles southeast of Varanasi. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said in a preliminary statement that the regional administration search and rescue team has reached the scene and the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) team is being dispatched to investigate.According to the flight manifest, there was a patient (Sanjay Kumar), doctor (Dr Vikash Kumar Gupta), paramedic (Sachin Kumar Mishra), two attendants (Archana Devi and Duru Kumar) and two pilots – Captains Vivek Vikas Bhagat and Savajdeep Singh. Estimated to arrive in Delhi at 10pm.This is the second crash involving a small aircraft in a month, raising serious questions about aviation safety in India. On January 28, Maharashtra Deputy Minister CM Ajit Pawar and four others were killed in a plane crash at Baramati Airport.In May 2011, a Pilatus PC-12 flying as an air ambulance from Patna to Delhi crashed in Faridabad. Seven people on board (including the two pilots) and three people on the ground died in the accident.
