Jharkhand air ambulance crash: 40-year-old aircraft had no black box

The air ambulance that crashed in Jharkhand on Monday killing seven people had no cockpit voice or flight data recorders, DGCA said on Wednesday.

It is mandatory for an aircraft to have cockpit voice and flight data recorders, popularly known as black box, but the ill-fated 40-year-old Beechcraft C90A aircraft was issued an airworthiness certificate back in 1987 when the rule was not in place.

While the aircraft's airworthiness review certificate was valid till January 20, 2027, the mandate to have black box is meant for those aircraft that got the airworthiness certificate on or after January 1, 2016.

The crash happened shortly after the aircraft took off from the Ranchi airport at 7:11 pm. The service was operated by Redbird Airways Pvt Ltd.

The victims have been identified as crew members Captain Vivek Vikas Bhagat and Captain Savrajdeep Singh, patient Sanjay Kumar, doctor Vikash Kumar Gupta, paramedic Sachin Kumar Mishra, and attendants Archana Devi and Dhuru Kumar.

Ranchi airport director Vinod Kumar said that the plane lost contact with the air traffic control about 20 minutes after takeoff.

"Inclement weather could be a reason behind the crash, but the actual cause will be ascertained only after a probe," he said.

(With PTI inputs)