Fearing collision with AI plane, 30 passengers jump out of bus on runway

Bhopal/Jabalpur/Delhi: : Thirty terrified passengers on a SpiceJet coach at Jabalpur airport on Saturday reportedly jumped off their bus as an Air India aircraft came too close and they feared getting hit by the same. Luckily for them, the AI subsidiary alliance air's plane wing passed very close to the stationary bus without hitting it.
The aviation regulator has issued a warning to Air India as the ATR-72 aircraft was allegedly not being marshalled to the parking bay by a trained personnel but by a helper.
The unprecedented sight of flyers fleeing from a bus to avoid being hit by a plane was witnessed at Jabalpur's Dumna airport when an Alliance Air (AA) ATR landed into the city 15 minutes ahead of the schedule time and was taxiing to its parking bay. At the same time, SpiceJet passengers had flown in from Delhi on another turboprop (Q-400) and were boarding a coach to be taken to the terminal.
"At 11.58 am, SpiceJet ramp staff noticed that AI flight is passing by our coach without maintaining standard distance. Ramp staff tried to seek attention of AI captain (but plane kept proceeding)... One of our passengers saw this and started rushing from the coach, followed by all passengers coming down from coach," said the incident report filed by SpiceJet.
Dumna airport director Ramtanu Saha said SpiceJet has lodged a complaint which is being probed and the report would be sent to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
"As per protocol, AI pilots should have reported the matter to ATC officials. We have got a written submission from SpiceJet station manager and drivers," Saha told TOI.
An Air India official said: "There was safe distance between our aircraft and SpiceJet Q400. However, after parking the SpiceJet captain got physically abusive with our technician. A CCTV footage is available with ATC."
28/08/16 Times of India

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Pawan Hans helicopter caught in bad weather

Mumbai: A Pawan Hans helicopter did a precautionary landing in Palghar on Saturday afternoon due to poor weather conditions enroute. All passengers on board the chopper are safe.
The 5-seater, Ecureuil B3 helicopter was operating a charter flight for Gas Authority of India when it encountered inclement weather in Palghar around 2pm, said a source.
Since continuing the flight would have been unsafe, the pilot chose to carry out a precautionary landing.
27/08/16 Times of India

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Air India plane wing nearly hits passenger coach at Jabalpur airport

New Delhi: Scores of passengers who had just deplaned a SpiceJet flight escaped unhurt at Jabalpur airport on Saturday when the wing of a taxiing Air India plane narrowly missed hitting the coach in which they were travelling. The incident happened when the coach carrying passengers, who landed from a Delhi flight (SG-2641) was preparing to move towards the terminal building.
There were no immediate comments from SpiceJet and Air India on the incident. Sources said around 30 passengers came out of the coach after one of them saw the wing of an Air India aircraft was close to hitting the coach. The engine of the SpiceJet was still on after landing when the Air India plane was taxiing towards the bay. The incident happened at around noon.
Air India plane’s wing had breached the stipulated safe distance that needs to be maintained from other objects and vehicles at the time of taxiing, sources said. According to them, there was no proper marshalling of the aircraft which resulted in the safety lapse. In aviation parlance, marshalling refers to visual signals used by the person on the ground and the pilot concerned for manouvering the aircraft at the time of take off and landing.
Sources said since there was no Air India technician at that particular time, someone else did the marshalling activity.
27/08/16 PTI/Indian Express

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The story of an Air India emergency landing: Why the captain and crew deserves praise

New Delhi: A passenger who boarded the Mumbai-Newark flight Air India AI191 on Thursday, and ended up at a little known town in Kazakhstan due to an emergency landing, heaped praises on the airline’s crew. Especially the captain, for handling a tricky situation well, ensuring that each of the 303 passengers were taken care of, and most importantly, keeping each passenger well informed of the developments.

The passengers finally reached Newark On Friday afternoon, after an almost 18-hour grounding at Kazakhstan.
Not just the flight’s captain and crew, the concerned government functionaries were also kept busy in India through much of Thursday and Friday, trying to get stranded passengers out of Kazakhstan. Civil Aviation Minister A Gajapathi Raju, his deputy Jayant Sinha and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj were all answering queries on twitter regarding this flight.
There were assurances from each on quick solution to the passengers’ woes, with Swaraj also saying the Indian Ambassador to that country was engaged in helping passengers throughout.
This is what happened. Three hours into the flight from Mumbai, which had anyway taken off late, captain Arup Roychaudhary announced an emergency landing, saying this will be done in about 20-22 minutes and the passengers have no cause to worry. He did not immediately explain why an emergency landing was being done.
“The Captain was calm; he switched off the in-flight entertainment system immediately to bar access to GPS. This meant none of us knew where we were landing, preventing panic. Once the flight landed (in almost exactly the time he had indicated), the Captain told us it was Akobe in Kazakhstan,” said Ramanan Seshadri. Seshadri was on the flight with his wife and twin sons, on his way back to the US after a family holiday in India.
The Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft was almost full, even the first class was full, said an Air India official. Once the aircraft landed, passengers were deplaned in an orderly manner, with an efficient cabin crew providing assistance and ensuring that no personal belongings were taken by passengers.
The orderly de-boarding in this case assumes importance given the scenes witnessed during the recent emergency landing of Emirates flight EK521 at Dubai. Here, precious minutes were wasted as passengers tried to carry their personal belongings and hand luggage, because either the crew failed to emphasise that belongings be left behind or because they did not heed crew’s requests. This aircraft caught fire seconds after the last person had deboarded.
Seshadri said real trouble could have begun after the de-boarding, as passengers began filing in to the Akobe International Airport. Akobe is a small town and the airport there is not equipped to handle a large bird like the Boeing 777-300ER, which had disgorged so many passengers at one go. The airport opened its entire first floor for the passengers, got all the available toilets cleaned while the passengers tried to settle down and wait for further news.
Seshadri says Roychaudhry ensured that water and milk for children was made available first. He also spoke to passengers to explain that the emergency landing was necessitated due to a smoke alarm. Later, the captain would again explain that since the fire extinguisher in the cargo hold area had been used up, this aircraft could not now be used and a new one will have to be flown in from India to take the passengers onwards. Little did the passengers know that the substitute aircraft would take another almost 18 hours to arrive.
“The captain and his crew did a really commendable job. They not only took care of the passengers, they were forthcoming with information at each point, explaining things. This helped most of us keep calm. A few hours after landing, the captain ensured we got lunch etc. The same crew flew us back when the substitute aircraft arrived in the evening,” Seshadri said.
27/08/16 Sindhu Bhattacharya/First Post

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DGCA may ask airlines to clamp down on in-flight selfies

Worried about security risks arising out of in-flight selfies, aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) may soon ask airlines to strictly enforce a ban on taking pictures inside cockpit and at other critical places, including by crew members.
While existing rules also put some restrictions on in-flight photography, the regulator will come out with a detailed set of guidelines in a few days in the wake of certain cases coming to the light about possible security risks from clicking cockpit selfies.
With increased use of smart devices, there have been many instances of travellers as well as crew members, including pilots, clicking photographs inside flights.
Against this backdrop, DGCA is working on guidelines for airlines that would cover various aspects of photography inside an aircraft including selfies.
A senior DGCA official on Friday said the regulator would be soon coming with a circular in this regard, mostly likely next week.
“It will be a safety circular for providing guidance to airlines,” the official said, even as he made it clear that there are already rules in place for “photograph at aerodromes or from aircraft in flight”.
According to the official, the circular would cover issues such as whether photography is permitted in cockpit including selfies.
26/08/16 PTI/VCCircle

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Laser light distracts Air India pilot near airport

New Delhi: A fight pilot from Air India complained of being distracted by a laser beam during landing at the Delhi airport on Tuesday. The pilot of Air India flight AI 047 (to Delhi) said he was distracted by a laser beam while he was preparing to land on runway 29, from the direction of National Highway 8, at the Indira Gandhi International Airport.
“The incident took place on Tuesday around 1am when the Air India flight was approaching the airport and had been cleared to land on runway 29. The pilot complained of some distraction and immediately informed the air traffic controller (ATC), who informed the manager on the ground,” said a senior airport official on condition of anonymity. “As per the communion made by the pilot of the said flight with ATC, he had spotted a green laser light close to runway 29 coming from the west side,” the official said.
26/08/16 Asian Age

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Faulty roster led to engineer's death: Air India

New Delhi: Faulty roster, which caused pilots of a delayed incoming flight to rush to operate another aircraft, led to the death of Air India engineer Ravi Subramanian on December 16 last year, according to a probe report by the airline. Subramanian died after he was sucked inside the engine of an AI aircraft that had begun taxiing to fly from Mumbai to Hyderabad.
The report, which has been submitted to the Union aviation ministry, lists the sequence of events.
According to the report, Mumbai-Hyderabad flight was scheduled to depart at 7.30pm, but the two pilots assigned to fly the aircraft were running late as they were operating a Rajkot-Mumbai flight which was scheduled to land at 8.10pm. The Rajkot-Mumbai flight eventually landed at 8.35pm, further delaying the availability of crew.
As a result, the pilots were in a hurry to reach the other plane after landing. They literally jumped off one plane and ran to the other. "The crew took a jeep and rushed to bay V28L to operate AI 619 Mumbai-Hyderabad. Pilots reached cockpit at 8.38pm. Pushback commenced at 8.45pm," says the report, while describing the tearing hurry in which things were happening that fateful evening.
When the aircraft started taxiing, the pilots did not realise that four ground personnel -including Subramanian -were still near the nose of the plane. While the other three saw the plane moving and managed to run away to safety , Subramanian had his back to the plane, and hence, got sucked into the engine. The report contradicts the version told by the flight's co-pilot that the ground personnel had given him the clearance to start taxiing by showing a thumbs up.
25/08/16 Times of India

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Aviation safety, a major concern

There is increasing concern over aviation safety in India with many cases of near collision between passenger aircraft being reported recently. Two weeks ago, a collision between two aircraft was averted over the Hyderabad airport. A week before that an aircraft which was landing and another which was taking off came close to collision in Guwahati. There have been other incidents of ‘near misses’ and narrow escapes at other airports in the recent past. According to a government statement in Parliament, there were 35 near miss incidents in the 15 months till March 2015. Alarmingly, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has said that more incidents were reported till now this year than all of last year. The figures show that there have been many problems with air safety requirements and enforcement of norms. Luckily, no serious accident has taken place, except for the disappearance of an IAF AN-32 aircraft which is of a different nature. But the near miss incidents could have turned into accidents and therefore they call for serious consideration and action.

Inadequate infrastructure and facilities, failure to upgrade equipment, poor maintenance and shortage of trained personnel at the Air Traffic Control (ATC) have been cited as the main reasons for the increase in air safety problems. The DGCA has found that more than half of the potential collisions could be traced to lapses at the ATC. The shortage of air traffic controllers, who have a crucial role in regulating the flow of traffic, is very serious. There is a shortage of about 1,000 controllers which is about 25 % of the required strength. Lapses are likely when the staff are overburdened with work. Poor pay and stressful work have discouraged many from taking up ATC jobs. The US Federal Aviation Administration had downgraded India’s aviation safety rating two years ago because of the shortage of air traffic controllers. The problem needs to be urgently addressed by the Airports Authority of India.
24/08/16 Deccan Herald

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Bird hit aborts SpiceJet's Pune-New Delhi flight take-off

Pune: A SpiceJet flight, carrying over 180 passengers, from here to New Delhi aborted take-off on Tuesday, minutes before being air-borne following a bird strike.
Following the incident, the flight was delayed by more than six hours.
The flight, scheduled to depart at 0725 hours from the airport here, was brought back to the parking bay and after
thorough maintenance checks, it departed for New Delhi at 1400 hours.
A SpiceJet spokesperson said all passengers and crew members were safe. There were 181 passengers, two infants and
six crew members in the plane.
"The take-off of SpiceJet aircraft VT-SZA, scheduled to operate SG 182 between the Pune-Delhi sector, was rejected
owing to a bird strike during take-off roll," the spokesperson said in a release.
Generally, take-off roll refers to the process when the plane is moving forward before getting air-borne.
After "undergoing a rigorous maintenance check as per the stipulated safety norms", the flight took off in the
afternoon.
23/08/16 First Post

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Aircraft near-misses are scary, but your pilot can handle it

New Delhi: If you have ever been part of the aviation sector, you would know that the primary word of focus is always ‘Safety’. This word is taken so seriously that everything from ATC and aircraft to ground equipment are built with multiple redundancies that are aimed to deal with worst-case scenarios. Even so, a lot of reports have been surfacing recently that the number of ‘near misses’ above India skies is on the rise. This is a cause of concern, but here is why you should not lose sleep over it.
Aircraft criss-crossing in the sky are usually flying on reciprocal tracks with a height separation of 1000 feet. This might sound like a short distance that is keeping two aircraft (flying at a closing speed of 1600 kmph plus) apart, but not really. Thanks to autopilots, precise instruments, and other advanced mumbo jumbo – 1000 feet is just perfect. It is the job of the air traffic controllers to keep these aircraft apart and on time, but they are not the last line of defence – it’s the pilots.
Most of you might remember the infamous Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision (the world’s deadliest air collision) that happened near New Delhi. Those were days when ATC relied on the pilots to inform them on the aircraft position and altitude, where as the pilots relied on the ATC to keep them separated from other aircraft. However, now, air traffic monitoring systems have been modified to be capable of showing the exact height, distance and speed of aircraft.
In any case, if the ATC for some reason is unable to maintain separation between aircraft, all commercial aircraft have a Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) which, as the name suggests, helps a pilot avoid a mid-air collision. TCAS between two proximate aircraft can communicate with each other. If their vertical distance and proximity triggers the TCAS, a Resolution Advisory (RA) is issued by the system. The system is capable of tracking multiple aircraft in a 35 Nautical Mile (65 kilometers) radius.
23/08/16 Varun Sharma/Indian Express

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A month on, search continues for missing AN-32

New Delhi: A month since it went off radar enroute Port Blair, the search for the missing AN-32 aircraft of Indian Air Force continues without any concrete evidence about the fate of the aircraft.

Meanwhile, as Geological Survey of India ship Samudra Ratnakar found some leads at a depth of around 3,000 meters, officials said it was not clear if it was the debris of the aircraft.


"The ship has tracked some echoes from the seabed but it will be a long process to verify if there is any debris belonging to the AN-32," IAF spokesperson Wing Commander Anupam Banerjee told IANS.

According to the Geological Survey of India, the Samudra Ratnakar, which was part of the search operation, had detected some linear pieces.

A GSI official told IANS that the objects, around 200 to 300 nautical miles from Chennai, could even be rocks on the sea bed.
Indian Navy Spokesperson Captain D.K. Sharma said: "The search for AN-32 is in progress in right earnest."

Sharma added that there were no concrete leads.
22/08/16 IANS/Business Standard

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Helicopter makes emergency landing after developing snag

Ghaziabad: A helicopter en route to Agra from Safdarjung airport in Delhi today made an emergency landing in the agricultural fields in Niwari village here due to a technical snag.
A chopper of Pawan Hans Limited today made an emergency landing in the fields of Firozpur Kaithwari at about 11.27 AM, Superintendent of Police (Rural) said, adding it was carrying staff members S K Sharma, Kirshna Kumar and Raj Kumar Jadhav.
The captain S Kumar observed some technical flaw in the chopper near Modinagar area and he immediately contacted the air traffic control and sought permission for emergency landing. After safe landing, engineers of the company reached the spot to repair the fault, he said.
20/08/16 PTI/India Today

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‘Communication failure likely cause of engineer death’

Mumbai: The civil aviation ministry’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), which is probing the death of an Air India (AI) engineer who was sucked into an aircraft engine in Mumbai last year, said in its initial findings that a miscommunication, probably caused by the aircraft’s pilot who was exhausted due to continuous assignments, could have led to the fatal accident.
The probe is still underway but one of the sources said, “After examining circumstances related to the incident, it was found that the pilot of the aircraft was operating the said flight immediately after having flown in another flight. Thus, the pilot was tired and there are chances that due to the same, some miscommunication occurred and the technician, Ravi Subramanian, got sucked into the engine of the Mumbai-Hyderabad flight AI 619 and died instantly.” Following the death of Mr Subramaniam, an investigation was ordered and the pilot and co-pilot of the aircraft were grounded by the airline. The source said that the investigation team realised that there should be at least mandatory half-an-hour rest for pilots and co-pilots after an assignment.
“After flying in and before flying out again, a half-an-hour gap should be a must,” said the AAIB source. He said that AAIB may also recommend to the airline that it “cross-utilise crew” while flying different types of aircraft the same day. “The airline should work in the direction of cross utilisation of crew for the airbus A320 family when the crew is going to fly two aircraft in a day, in order to avoid confusion between them,” he added.
Sources in the bureau said they were working on the recommendations and would soon forward the draft to authorities concerned.
20/08/16 Ashita Dadheech/Asian Age

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Railways to assist in rescue of aircraft in distress

Chennai: The Minister of Civil Aviation has sought the assistance of railway employees in search and rescue of aircraft in distress.

This is the first time that the Indian Railways, which has a huge manpower and infrastructure, including advanced communication and a track length of over 85,000 km spread across the country, has been roped in for such search operations.

The role of railway officials has been defined in the Standard Operating Procedure drafted by the National Aeronautical Search and Rescue Coordination Committee, which gives detailed guidelines to be followed in search of missing aircraft, its crew and passengers and the procedures to provide aid and organise the rescue of survivors of aircraft accidents, a senior railway official told The Hindu .

Citing the National Aeronautical Search and Rescue (NASAR) manual, the Civil Aviation Ministry sought the cooperation and explained the part to be played by the railways. Quoting certain portions of the report, he said “Railway officials can play an important role in assisting search/rescue operations by ensuring speedy transmission of information relating to aircraft in distress to the Rescue Coordination Centre through the railway control room for taking appropriate action.”
20/08/16 The Hindu

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Nidhi Chaphekar recounts moments from Brussels airport twin blasts

Brussels airport blast survivor Nidhi Chaphekar recalled her experience of how she survived the horrible attack and her determination and courage not to give up when things were falling apart.

“I heard a loud ‘boom’ and felt as if I was dead,” recounted Jet airways crew member Chaphekar, a survivor of the March 22 Brussels airport twin blasts that claimed lives of more than 30 people.

Recollecting the incident, Chaphekar told ANI, “When I reached at level two and went a little further, my colleague Amit and I heard a loud sound and it seemed as if somebody had busted a big cracker. There was smoke in the air and it seemed as if things were flying from beneath like feathers. But, actually, they were clothes of people, which we realised later.”

She said in another 40-45 seconds, they heard another loud sound, after which they tried to run.

“When I turned left and took some steps forward, I saw a fireball. It threw me away. I don’t remember where I had fallen, maybe somewhere at the end,” she added.

Chaphekar recalled when she was almost fainting, in her subconscious mind she was thinking about her kids.

She said she was unable to breath and could only hear an echo.

“I was asking for help from God, I closed my eyes and asked God to send somebody for help and when I saw nobody is coming, I thought I have to get out of this place, and tried to drag myself, but I never lost my courage,” she added.

Giving details about her injuries, she said, “In my left foot, a metal plate and a mirror piece had pierced due to which I was unable to walk. The only priority was to stop the blood loss.”

She said she asked a lady to help her lie down while she kept her legs on a bench at a height so that the blood flows towards her heart.

“There was a policeman, Alen, who kept me engaging in a conversation by asking questions about my work and family so that I do not sleep, because if someone sleeps in such a condition then everything slows down. I was feeling so cold that I was shivering, as my stretcher was lying on the floor and the temperature was 3-4 degrees and there was strong wind as well,” she said.

When she was taken to the hospital, she was shuttered to know that her face was burnt and she didn’t want to live.

“I thought from now on, I won’t be able to work and how my kids and society would accept me? Doctors consoled me. They asked me the contact number of my family. I gave them my husband’s number. I had no clue if somebody would come from the Jet Airways. But the only thing I knew that I work with Jet and there was my brother Shabeer, who will definitely come to see,” she concluded.
20/08/16 ANI/New Indian Express

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Laser distracts pilots near IGIA

New Delhi: Two pilots, one from Air Asia and another from Jet Airways, have complained that they got distracted by a laser beam while landing their planes at the Indira Gandhi International airport on Saturday.
The pilots of Jet Airways flight 9W 830 (Chennai to Delhi) and Air Asia flight I-5/177 (Bengaluru to Delhi) said they were distracted while they were preparing to land on runway 29, from the direction of National Highway 8, at the IGI airport.
The pilot of Air Asia Airways flight (I-5-136) said he too was distracted by the laser beam while the plane was preparing to land on runway 29, from the direction of National Highway 8, at the IGI airport.
“The incident took place on Monday around 7.30 pm when the Air Asia flight was approaching the airport and had been cleared to land on runway 29. The pilot complained of some distraction and immediately informed the air traffic controller (ATC), who informed the manager on the ground,” said a senior airport official on the condition of anonymity.
“As per the communion made by the pilot of the said Air Asia flight with ATC, he had spotted green laser light somewhere very close to the runway 29 coming from east side when the aircraft was about to land and was 4 nautical miles from the runway,” said the official.
In another incident, a Jet Airways pilot of flight number 9W830 (Chennai to Delhi) had also spotted green laser light somewhere very close to runway 29. In this regard a wireless massage was also flashed to report the authorities concerned in the airport to take appropriate action.
17/08/16 Sunil Thapliyal/Asian Age

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Indigo pilot suspects technical snag, makes emergency landing

Thiruvananthapuram: An Indigo flight flying from Mumbai to Thiruvananthapuram with 161 passengers had an emergency landing at the Thiruvananthapuram airport on Wednesday evening.
Airport sources said the pilot of Flight 933 had a doubt of technical snag while preparing for the landing. Hence the pilot alerted the airport traffic control and sought permission for an emergency landing. The airport authorities made it clear that there was no cause of concern and all passengers are safe.
However, official sources of Indigo airlines ruled out the reports that there was an emergency landing by its flight here.
"The pilot had a doubt when the flight had touched 10,000 feet for landing, hence he had demanded a push back at the air traffic control. But when the flight touched 5,000 feet, the pilot said that there was no need for it as it was just a doubt on some technical snag in the landing," said an official of the airlines.
17/08/16 Times of India

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No Indian airport safe, warns IB; Home Ministry orders major security overhaul

New Delhi: Amid growing concerns over safety of Indian airports, the Intelligence Bureau issued a fresh warning on Tuesday, saying that no Indian airport is fully equipped to stand a Brussels-like terror attack.

The warning holds significance in the wake of reports that India has not accorded specialised CISF security cover to over two dozen of its operational airports owing to lack of funds.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) today ordered a security audit of all airports in the country in the wake of recent attacks at Brussels and Istanbul airports.
The report will be submitted by a multi-agency committee comprising of agencies like Bureau of Civil Aviation Security and Central Industrial Security Force or CISF.

Importantly, the Centre also rejected the Civil Aviation Ministry's proposal for a specialized force called Aviation Security Force for ensuring security at the Indian airports and, instead asked the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) to guard all Indian airports.

A total of 27 functional airports are being secured by other security forces like CRPF, India Reserve Battalions (IRBs) or state police units, keeping the designated aviation security force CISF out.

Earlier this year, a report by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture had expressed its concern, saying it found it ''quite scary to know that the security of eight of hyper-sensitive and 19 sensitive airports are not covered by the CISF which has now become the only specialised force for aviation security."
16/08/16 Ritesh K Srivastava/Zee News

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Aviation force plan rejected

New Delhi: The Union home ministry has turned down a proposal from the civil aviation ministry to raise an airport security force and ordered the security audit of all airports in the country following the attacks at such facilities in Brussels and Istanbul.

"The home ministry is not in favour of a special force under the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) and has turned down the civil aviation ministry's proposal. The CISF (Central Industrial Security Force) will continue to guard all airports in the country, considering the heightened terror threat," a home ministry official said.

Over the past couple of years, the two ministries have been at loggerheads over the control of security arrangements at airports. The civil aviation ministry wanted to raise an aviation security force under its command and control while the CISF is under the direct control of the home ministry.

Airport security was handed over to the CISF after an Indian Airlines flight was hijacked in Kathmandu and taken to Kandahar in December 1999. The CISF now guards 59 airports and has deployed 21,000 personnel. Before the induction of the CISF, state police did the job.

An Intelligence Bureau officer said the CISF had been performing well. "The force has trained commandos and quick-reaction teams."
16/08/16 Imran Ahmed Siddiqui/Telegraph

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Missing plane: What happened to the Indian military aircraft?

Indian aviation experts appear no closer to solving the mystery of a military aircraft that disappeared over the Bay of Bengal last month with 29 people on board.
The plane vanished shortly after take-off from the southern city of Chennai on 22 July. The Russian-built Antonov AN-32 military transport plane was making a routine courier service to Port Blair, the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar islands, with 23 service personnel and six crew members on board.

Contact with air traffic control was lost just 15 minutes into the flight, with a source in the Indian Air Force (IAF) saying the plane made a sharp left turn before quickly losing altitude. "It just disappeared – no SOS, no transmission at any frequency," said defence minister Manohar Parrikar. "That is the worrying part." However, he added that there was little evidence the plane had been sabotaged.
Officials told the BBC that the ongoing hunt for the missing aircraft is possibly "the biggest and most arduous" in India's aviation history. "It is like searching for a needle in a haystack. We are still hoping for a miracle," one source said.
Military and coast guard planes have covered 360 nautical miles in search of debris, but no wreckage has so far been located. Dozens of ships and submarines are also involved in a deep sea search, scouring 430 square kilometres of ocean. The Indian government has also been in touch with officials in the US, requesting satellite information that could be helpful in the search.
16/08/16 The Week

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