The directorate-general of civil aviation on Thursday submitted a preliminary report to the civil aviation ministry on Wednesday night’s aircrash at Faridabad, near the national capital, which indicated that the aircraft went down amid bad weather and high-velocity winds.

Shortly before the crash the pilot of the ill-fated aircraft had told air traffic control that he was facing bad weather. The aircraft — flying from Patna to New Delhi — then vanished from the radar. The authorities are also probing if there was any technical malfunction of the single-engine air ambulance aircraft. The crash has also raised questions on whether adequate warnings on the bad weather ahead were given to the pilots, and, if a warning was given, why the small plane was given permission to take off from Patna and land at Delhi.
Sources said when the aircraft was cleared by the ATC to descend while it was at an altitude of 11,500 feet, it instead appeared to climb further, probably due to the impact of bad weather, before descending at a very steep rate and then vanishing off the radar. Aviation officials said there was no cockpit voice recorder or flight data recorder (black box) on board since such small aircraft usually are not equipped with these heavy devices. Experts will now assess the wreckage to ascertain what led to the tragedy. The victims on board included two doctors and a nurse working at New Delhi’s Apollo Hospital. The patient on board was suffering from hepatitis and was being brought to Apollo Hospital when the aircraft crashed, killing all seven people on board and three women sleeping on the first floor of the house onto which the plane crashed. The bad weather had also resulted in five flights being diverted from Delhi airport and delays for around 30 flights.
Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has announced compensation of `2 lakhs each for the families of the three people killed after the aircraft crashed into their homes in Faridabad.
The civil aviation ministry also said Thursday that an inquiry committee would be appointed to investigate the cause of the crash at a residential locality in Faridabad. This committee could be headed by a senior retired Air Force officer. The government has already set up a working group to examine safety regulations for non-scheduled operator permit holders, air ambulance operations and general aviation. An independent accident investigation committee has also been set up that will be responsible for accident probes instead of the regulator DGCA, which was performing this task till now.
The DGCA also sent a team to the crash site on Thursday to collect evidence. The ill-fated Swiss-made single-engine Pilatus aircraft was about five years old and had been operating in India since January this year. It had an airworthiness certificate till 2015. Government officials said the pilots of the aircraft, both of whom were killed in the crash, were very experienced and qualified to fly the aircraft. Officials said that bad weather probably caused the plummeting of the aircraft due to which the pilot possibly lost control of the aircraft. About 60 per cent of the entire aircraft, including parts of its fuselage and the tail, have been found, but the remaining portion, including the cockpit, has been completely damaged and charred in
the blaze. The DGCA team at the crash site examined the wreckage and took photographs to study the impact of how the aircraft landed, when and where it hit the houses and where the bodies were found.
The Haryana government, meanwhile, also announced financial assistance of `20,000 to three other people who sustained serious injuries on the ground. The state government will also assess and compensate the damage to private homes as a result of the crash. Gurgaon divisional commissioner T.K. Sharma said the owners of the ill-fated aircraft would, in addition, also compensate all victims according to the law.
In a statement, Apollo Hospital said: “The air ambulance crash in Faridabad is most unfortunate and tragic. The plane was hired from Air Chartered Services. The air ambulance from Patna was bringing in a patient, his attendant along with two doctors and one male nurse. The entire Apollo family is devastated and is in shock along with the families of the deceased.” Apollo said the doctors who died in the crash were Dr Rajiv Jain, casualty medical officer, working at Apollo for the past eight years, and Dr Syed Arshad Abbas, casualty medical officer, working there for a year and a half. The male nurse, Cyril P. Joy, also killed in the crash, was working at Apollo for the past five years.
Faridabad police commissioner P.K. Agarwal said: “The bodies of all the people killed in the air ambulance crash in Faridabad were on Thursday handed over to their families after the post-mortems at the B.K. Hospital.” He further said a detailed report of the police investigation had been handed over to the civil aviation ministry. Mr Agarwal, however, refused to reveal details of the police investigation.