New Delhi, February 25 The Beechcraft C90A aircraft, which crashed in Jharkhand on Monday, killing seven people, did not have a cockpit voice recorder or flight data recorders, according to the aviation regulator, the DGCA.
The requirement for an aircraft to have a cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorders was not in place when the ill-fated aircraft received its airworthiness certificate in 1987.
On February 23, Beechcraft C90A aircraft, VT-AJV, operated by Redbird Airways Pvt Ltd as an air ambulance from Ranchi to Delhi, crashed shortly after takeoff. Five people and two crew members on board died in the accident that occurred in the forested area near Simaria in the Chatra district of Jharkhand.
A senior DGCA official said the twin-turboprop aircraft was manufactured in 1987, and its airworthiness review certificate was valid until January 20, 2027.
The aircraft did not have a black box, which could pose challenges for investigators in determining the factors that led to the crash.
The black box refers to the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and Flight Data Recorder (FDR), which record crucial data about an aircraft.
Under the regulations, aircraft with a take-off weight of less than 5,700 kilograms are required to have CVRs if they received an airworthiness certificate on or after January 1, 2016.
Similarly, the installation of FDR is mandatory only for aircraft with a take-off weight of less than 5,700 kg, that received their airworthiness certificate on or after January 1, 1987.
The official said there was no mandatory regulatory requirement for the installation of a CVR or an FDR on the VT-AJV aircraft at the time of its original certification.
The first Certificate of Airworthiness (C of A) for the ill-fated aircraft was issued in 1987.
The aircraft's maximum take-off weight was 4,583 kg.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is investigating the crash.
In less than a month, accidents involving two aircraft operated by NSOPs have claimed the lives of 12 people.
Apart from the Jharkhand plane accident that killed 7 people, the crash of the Learjet 45 aircraft (VT-SSK), owned by VSR Ventures, at Baramati (Maharashtra), killed 5 people, including Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, on January 28.
Asserting that safety lapses cannot simply be blamed on pilots, the aviation watchdog, DGCA, announced a series of strict measures for non-scheduled operators, including intensive audits and a safety ranking mechanism, amid safety concerns raised in the wake of recent aircraft accidents.
