India has turned to the US to help establish the cause of the crash of a recently acquired C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft that ploughed into a hillock in Rajasthan, killing all five crew members on board and jolting the IAF.
Besides sending the aircraft's black box or flight data recorder to the US to decode its contents, the Indian Air Force has sent a request for assistance in probing the crash through the Office of Defense Coordination at the US Embassy in Delhi.
Lockheed Martin, the manufacturer of the aircraft, has been contacted by the Office of Defense Coordination to help in the investigation, sources familiar with the probe told Mail Today.
A team of experts from both Lockheed Martin and the US Air Force is expected to assist in the matter, they said.
"Both the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR) have been sent to the US. Help has been sought for data retrieval because they were both slightly damaged. The IAF did not want to take the chance of losing any of the contents," an IAF spokesperson said.
Sources said the decision to send the components to the US was made because the connectors of the CVR and black box were damaged. The CVR has a recording of the last 30 minutes of the cockpit conversation while FDR has the complete flight profile.
Every squadron routinely checks FDRs to get data on performance of the aircraft and serviceability of equipment is maintained at a high level, the sources said.
Sources acknowledged that they were puzzled by the crash as the crew of the ill-fated aircraft included the most experienced pilots of the Hindon-based "Veiled Vipers" squadron that operates the C-130Js, which were acquired at a cost of over Rs 950 crore each.
30/03/14 Gautam Datt and Rezaul H Laskar/Mail Online
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Besides sending the aircraft's black box or flight data recorder to the US to decode its contents, the Indian Air Force has sent a request for assistance in probing the crash through the Office of Defense Coordination at the US Embassy in Delhi.
Lockheed Martin, the manufacturer of the aircraft, has been contacted by the Office of Defense Coordination to help in the investigation, sources familiar with the probe told Mail Today.
A team of experts from both Lockheed Martin and the US Air Force is expected to assist in the matter, they said.
"Both the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR) have been sent to the US. Help has been sought for data retrieval because they were both slightly damaged. The IAF did not want to take the chance of losing any of the contents," an IAF spokesperson said.
Sources said the decision to send the components to the US was made because the connectors of the CVR and black box were damaged. The CVR has a recording of the last 30 minutes of the cockpit conversation while FDR has the complete flight profile.
Every squadron routinely checks FDRs to get data on performance of the aircraft and serviceability of equipment is maintained at a high level, the sources said.
Sources acknowledged that they were puzzled by the crash as the crew of the ill-fated aircraft included the most experienced pilots of the Hindon-based "Veiled Vipers" squadron that operates the C-130Js, which were acquired at a cost of over Rs 950 crore each.
30/03/14 Gautam Datt and Rezaul H Laskar/Mail Online
