2 pilots die in air crash off Ludhiana

Ludhiana: Just a week after it was cleared for flying, after a seven-year-long grounding, state government official VIP plane, King Air C-90 Beechcraft, crashed at an abandoned industrial unit of Thapar Agro Mill near Jugiana here this morning killing both pilots.
Pilot Dalip Singh Kataria and co-pilot Manjit Singh Khokhar were the only two on board.
The plane, which had taken off from the Chandigarh airbase at 10.50 am, faced landing trouble at Sahnewal airport and crashed around 11.30 am.
According to eyewitnesses, the plane took three rounds of the Sahnewal airbase and in the fourth attempt the aircraft tilted upside down and crashed 5 km away at Jugiana village. The official of the Chandigarh airbase received the last message from the pilots at 11.25 am.
Punjab government civil aviation sources said the aircraft was not being used for some time and had been cleared for flying by the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) only last week after major repairs.
The eyewitnesses further said one of the pilots reportedly tried to dive from the plane before it crashed at the factory unit.
Purchased in 1978, this aircraft was for seven years at Chandigarh Hanger after it had crashed landed at the Hisar airbase in 2001.
The forensic team and the teams from the Sahnewal airbase started searching for the crucial remains that could lead them to the exact cause of the crash.
According to the Chief Minister's media advisor Harcharan Bains, the plane was on a mandatory technical check-up flight prior to a VIP trip when it seemed to stall and begin losing height and crashed.
29/10/08 Mohit Khanna and Loveleen Bains/The Tribune

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Oct 2008, Safety Oct 2008