Chatra: Over a month after an air ambulance crashed in Chatra district on Feb 23 killing all seven on-board, including the pilot, his father, Deo Sahay Bhagat, a senior Chatra administration official, on Friday said that his family doesn’t want compensation but a proper impartial probe into the incident.His 28-year-old son, captain Vivek Vikas Bhagat was piloting the Redbird Airways Pvt Ltd’s nearly 40-year-old Beechcraft C90A aircraft, which crashed in the jungles near Simaria, 17 minutes after taking off from Ranchi airport. Others on board were co-pilot Captain Savrajdeep Singh, paramedic Sachin Kumar Mishra, burn patient Sanjay Kumar, his wife Archana Devi, attendant Druv Kumar, and Dr Vikas Kumar Gupta.
The preliminary report of Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has now hinted that the plane’s emergency location transmitter did not get activated due to which it went off the radar.Bhagat, an executive engineer in the rural works department, told TOI, “I don’t want any compensation. I just want a fair and impartial investigation so that the truth comes out.”He expressed concern that the state govt recently extended the probe period by six months, which, he feared, may delay justice further. Bhagat had met state rural development minister Deepika Pandey Singh during her recent visit to Hazaribag urging help in expediting the probe.Drawing parallels with other aviation accidents, including the chartered flight of Maharashtra deputy CM Ajit Pawar and the Ahmedabad AI plane crash, Bhagat said, “The real cause of accidents often remains buried. I don’t want the same fate in this case too.”He claimed that the air ambulance company has even stopped responding to his calls. He questioned why the aircraft was allowed to take off despite adverse weather.“Negligence led to the crash. After the incident, both engines were found at different locations, while the main body was at one spot. My son had asked for deviation from the ATC Kolkata, but by that time, it was too late. The take-off time was 5 pm, but it took off two hours later,” Bhagat said.Vivek’s mother, Geeta Sahay Bhagat, who has undergone open-heart surgery, said, “We are living like corpses now.”The family faced another tragedy this month. “My son’s maternal uncle, Jung Bahadur Oraon, died of shock on March 14,” Bhagat said. “I don’t want a single penny. My son is gone — what will I do with the money?”The AAIB’s initial findings noted that the aircraft took off with 830 litres of fuel from Ranchi airport at 7:07 pm. On the same day, the plane had operated an air ambulance from Delhi to Ranchi with the same crew, and on completion of the flight, “nil sang was recorded by the flight crew in the tech log book”, it noted.“The aircraft’s assigned route to Delhi after take-off was W109 on track 297°. But, while lining up on the runway, the aircraft requested ATC Ranchi to continue on the runway heading (track 313°) after take-off, due to weather. The request was approved by ATC Ranchi”, and the aircraft took off, the preliminary report said.As per the report, at 7:19 pm, ATC Kolkata asked the aircraft to report when in contact with Varanasi, to which the pilot acknowledged. This was the last VHF communication between the aircraft and ATC Kolkata.“Thereafter, no transmission from VT-AJV (airacraft) was received by ATC Kolkata. Subsequently, ATC Kolkata tried to contact VT-AJV but did not receive any response. Later, the district administration, Chatra was intimated of an aircraft accident by locals. The aircraft crashed at about” 7:24 pm, the report said.
