Flashback: When BSF aircraft crash killed 10 on board
New Delhi: Winter's chill was just beginning to settle over the city on Dec 22, 2015, when a wave of dread swept across southwest Delhi's Dwarka. A Beechcraft Super King aircraft, operated by Border Security Force, took off from Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi for Ranchi.
Within minutes, the routine flight, carrying 10 people, including three crew members, plummeted to the ground, crashing into a water treatment plant within the airport compound.
Residents of Shahbad Mohammadpur in Bagdola rushed after seeing the aircraft flapping and tossing before hitting the outer peripheral wall. A ball of fire and plumes of black smoke could be seen from afar. Fire trucks from the Dwarka fire station were rushed to the spot.
A couple of people were rescued, but they were ground workers caught in the crash. There were huge aviation fuel bunks near the crash site, but the pilots managed to avoid the fuel tanks and the densely populated village, averting a bigger tragedy.
The impact was brutal, leaving no chance of survival. The devastating crash claimed the lives of Bhagwati Prasad Bhatt, the experienced chief pilot, co-pilot Rajesh Shivrain and eight other BSF personnel.
The plane was a VIP aircraft, frequently utilised by high-ranking govt functionaries, including senior home ministry officials and ministers. The inquiry panel report recommended the overhaul of BSF's air wing and concluded that "there was non-existence of safety culture, non-existence of safety management systems and nil supervision of the operations at ground level".
The flight crew had contacted the air traffic control (ATC) Delhi for clearance to operate the flight to Ranchi.
The aircraft was cleared, and the runway was given as 28. After the clearance, the aircraft stopped for some time while taxiing on taxiway E1. The pilot informed ATC that there would be a 10-minute delay due to some administrative reasons.
Shortly after takeoff, the aircraft progressively turned left with a simultaneous loss of height. Finally, it impacted terrain and came to a final rest in the holding tank of the water treatment plant.
There was a post-impact fire, and the aircraft was destroyed.
This crash was a rare occurrence for Delhi. Prior to this, a mid-air collision happened way back in 1996 over Charkhi Dadri. On Nov 12, 1996, Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 747 and Kazakhstan Airlines Ilyushin Il-76 collided near Delhi, killing all 349 people on board. The cause was pilot error and miscommunication with ATC. Poor understanding of English by a pilot was reported as a contributing factor behind the tragedy.
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